Her fate Their mission
by burnt.rose84
Summary: My name is Kaede, and I'm from the future.. I watched my family die, and my only choice is to go back and save them... even if it means sealing my own fate.. I'm more than willing to take that chance...
1. The arrow and the arrival

-1"Did you remember everything you'll need?"  
"Yes, yes I'll be fine. I won't need much besides food and my weapon."  
"Don't forget, do NOT take that arm band off. It has the scent concealed in it so that no demon will be able to recognize your scent. You will smell like any other full blooded human with it."  
"I understand. I'll try to be careful."

A girl picks up a large, yellow backpack and proceeds to walk out of the house that her and another man seem to live in.

The girl had long, jet black hair, with blonde highlights. Her eyes were bright amber-colored, and she was wearing an old kimono outfit that wasn't normally worn any longer. Instead of nails, she had short claws, so they almost looked more like human nails than claws.

Before the girl left, the man grabbed her by the right elbow and said, "You know that I don't approve of this. I was supposed to protect you, not let you do something that could get yourself hurt or worse..."

The girl turned to him and said, "Do you know of any other way? If I do this, I could save more than one life... More than one family... Maybe people wouldn't have to suffer anymore... Maybe all of the killings could be stopped."

The man let go of the girl and turned away saying, "If they were here, they'd tell you not to go. My sister... She wouldn't have wanted you to take this chance..."

"They're not here... that's the problem... if they were, I probably wouldn't have to do this..."

The girl turned and walked out of the house and proceeded to a small, old hut. Before entering the hut, the girl looked around to see if anyone was watching. It was dark, as far as she could see no one was there. She opened the door slowly as it creaked and squeaked loudly. It was, in fact, an old door as it was.

The girl's amber eyes were glued directly onto, what seemed to be, an old, wooden well. She stared at it for a moment and then walked down the rickety stairs until she came to the lip of the well.

"This is the only way... I know what I have to do..."

The girl took out a small box-like item from her pocket and she adjusted some of the knobs and buttons upon it. The well began to light into a blue glow, and then it began to adjust to a bright orange. The girl then put the box back into her pocket and zipped the pocket shut to ensure that she would not lose the box.

"This is it... I have to do this..."

The girl then jumped into the well and the light grew in intensity and then quickly disappeared soon after. The well stood there as it always had and everything was quiet once more. And the girl... was gone...

In the feudal era of Japan, there was an ongoing hunt between six friends. They were on the hunt for the shards of the sacred jewel. We find them now, late at night, in a small, abandoned hut, to keep away predators and the cold night air.

All were asleep, except for one. It seemed InuYasha was having one of those nights where he just couldn't fall asleep. The area that they were in was said to have recently harbored a demon that they are hunting. A demon named Naraku. They had searched for three days straight, following the rumors, but had found nothing. InuYasha was growing exceedingly impatient. But for now, all he could do was waiver his hatred for Naraku and attempt to rest his racing mind.

"InuYasha?" Kagome awoke.  
"What is it?" InuYasha asked.  
"Can't sleep?" she asked rubbing her tired eyes.  
"No, I can't. I can't get over how we've been following all of these rumors about Naraku but we haven't found anything... I think we've been going around in circles and it's starting to get on my nerves."  
Kagome understood InuYasha's pain. She knew how badly he wanted to rip into the flesh of Naraku and take revenge for what had happened to him 50 years ago.  
"Well we can't very well do anything until we find him. You should try and sleep for now... Wait a minute..."  
InuYasha's eyes opened quickly and he set eyes on the girl, "What is it?"  
Kagome stood up and said, "I sense the sacred jewel nearby, InuYasha."  
InuYasha stood up quickly and the others began to awaken slowly.  
"What is it?" Miroku asked.  
"The sacred jewel is getting closer. It's definitely Naraku's part of the jewel." Kagome said again.  
In just seconds Miroku, Sango, Kirara, and Shippo were up and ready to follow the power of the jewel to Naraku.  
InuYasha motioned for Kagome to get on his back as he said, "Where is it Kagome?!"  
The girl pointed in an easterly direction and said, "That way! I'm sure of it!"  
They all headed off in the direction in which Kagome had pointed. InuYasha's blood was boiling, he was sure that he was ready for a battle to the death with his enemy and nothing was going to stop him this time!

Finally, after following the power of the jewel for a good ten minutes, they came upon a clearing in the middle of the forest, and Naraku was standing right in the middle of it. Almost like he was waiting for them to come to him.

InuYasha landed at the edge of the clearing and let Kagome off of his back.

"Naraku!! I've been looking for you! And here you are!" InuYasha snarled as he placed his hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.

Naraku seemed quiet at first, as though he were concentrating on something in particular. He looked towards Kagome and then to the group, then he looked back to InuYasha and smiled with his greedy grin.

"What the hell are you smiling at? Are you smiling because you know that this is your fate?!"

"InuYasha, you have been busy I see. I have come to see if what was said was true, and apparently it is." Naraku snickered.

InuYasha couldn't have been more confused, "What the hell are you talking about Naraku?!"

The evil demon smiled again and laughed. "You are as unknowingly dimwitted InuYasha."

"Why you..." InuYasha then pulled the sword from it's protective sheath, and brandished the well known sword against his enemy. "You'll die today Naraku!" he said as he ran forward and jumped, ready to swing his sword to cut through Naraku, but the evil demon put up his infamous barrier which knocked the dog demon back and to the ground.

"Your skills are lacking, at best, InuYasha," Naraku chuckled.

InuYasha stood up, "Damn! His barrier seems stronger than it ever has been!"

"InuYasha seems to be having trouble doing this alone. Sango, maybe we could try our hand at it!" Miroku yelled.

"Yeah! Let's go! Kirara!" Sango called for her demon cat friend and the three of them flew towards naraku, Miroku throwing his strongest sutras and preparing his wind tunnel and Sango tossing her Hiraikotsu. The weapons and sutras were thrown back as well as the three who also landed not far from where InuYasha landed.

"I'll get you for this Naraku!" InuYasha shouted.

No one was sure of what to do, Kagome didn't have her arrows on her so she was unable to aid in the fight.

InuYasha wasn't sure what to do, his wind scar and adamant barrage wouldn't be breaking this new barrier anytime soon... He growled in anger.

Just before InuYasha had decided to try his hand at it again, a bright flash of purple flashed past him and cut through Naraku's barrier like a hot knife through butter.

"What was that?!" InuYasha asked himself as he turned to look back at Kagome.

Miroku, Sango and Shippo looked to the girl but she was turned as well.

"A sacred arrow! Who shot that arrow?!" Kagome asked.

"If that wasn't Kagome's arrow, then who's arrow was it?" Sango asked.

"It seems as though someone with extraordinary spiritual powers has shot it. Could it have been Kikyou?" Miroku asked as well.

"It couldn't have been Kikyou!" InuYasha yelled, "It smells of a living human!"

"InuYasha! Whoever it was, they have a shard of the jewel!"

"I'm busy trying to take care of Naraku right now!" InuYasha turned back to where Naraku was and pointed his sword at him once more. "Whoever shot that arrow destroyed Naraku's barrier, and now he's mine!"

Naraku looked annoyed, as though someone had just stolen his thunder. "See you around InuYasha!" Naraku sprayed his miasma cloud all around him, and then he was gone.

"Damn! He got away again!" InuYasha was now even more infuriated since Naraku had taken off. But he sheathed his sword and turned to where the arrow was shot from. As he did this, Miroku and Sango ran up to InuYasha.

"InuYasha!" Miroku yelled as he approached, "Whoever shot that arrow, I sensed a great deal of spiritual power from, as well as the aura of a demon."

"Spiritual powers, AND demonic powers? Something's wrong there. I thought that I smelled a human!"

"Wait a minute, where's Kagome?" Sango asked.

InuYasha turned to see Shippo running at them.

"InuYasha! Sango, Miroku!" Shippo cried out.

"Shippo! Where's Kagome?!" InuYasha asked.

"She ran to find whoever it was who shot the arrow! She thought that maybe it was Kikyo!" Shippo told his story.

"What?! Why would she do something so stupid?!" InuYasha took off and ran towards where the last place where Kagome's smell was.

"What are you doing Kagome?!" InuYasha thought to himself.

Kagome swore that she saw someone who looked... familiar. And whoever they were, they had a shard of the jewel, so it wasn't too hard to chase after them.

"I've got to find out who that was!" Kagome thought to herself as she ran through the wooded area. After running for so long she sensed that the jewel was right on top of her and she couldn't see a thing, being that it was so dark.

"Who's there?! Hello?!!" Kagome yelled. She heard rustling in the trees above as if someone was moving around above her. She felt the shard move as well so she was trying to follow it's quick movements.

"Kagome!!" She heard InuYasha yell from a distance and turned to see if she could see him.

"Inu-!" Kagome was about to yell when she heard someone jump out of a tree and land behind her. She turned quickly to see a girl just a little taller than her standing there looking her in the eyes. There was something so familiar about her. Her eyes... They were the same color as... as...

"Kagome!!" InuYasha was closer now and he could sense that whoever this "thing" was that shot the arrow might be dangerously close to Kagome.

InuYasha landed in front of Kagome, but the person standing there was gone. He could smell the human scent leaving the area fast, and he planned on chasing it, but first he had to attend to Kagome.

"What were you thinking?! If you think for a second that what you did wasn't stupid, you're out of you mind! You could have been hurt and taken away by that demon and I might not have been able to catch up in time!" InuYasha scolded the girl.

"InuYasha! There's something about that girl that I just can't - wait a minute... Did you say that she was a demon?"

"Yeah, All I can smell is human, but Miroku said that he sensed strong spiritual powers and a strong demonic aura. Now come on, get on my back and we'll try to catch up."

Kagome did as he asked and climbed on his back, then he lunged where he could smell the human scent and started to catch up.

"Oh shit! They're right behind me! Something told me that I should have waited to shoot that arrow! Damn! I didn't realize how strongly she'd stick on my case! I better get a move on!"

The girl jumped from tree to tree, hoping that it would be enough to get her farther away from the two. Just as she thought that she had managed to keep out of range from InuYasha and Kagome, she heard the growls of a cat demon in front of her and saw the fast movements of Kirara with Sango, Miroku, and Shippo riding atop of her.

"Stop right there!" Miroku shouted.

The girl lost her footing on the branch of one of the trees that she was stepping on, and she fell from the tree.

"AHHHHHHHHH!" the girl cried out just before she hit her left shoulder to the ground, breaking her arm.

Just before she got up she could smell that InuYasha and Kagome were standing over her and she didn't know if she could get out of this in time to make a clean getaway.

"Who are you?!" The obnoxious voice of InuYasha rang through to the girl as Kirara landed on the other side of her just as she rolled over to try to make a getaway from that direction.

"Calm down InuYasha, it looks as though it's just a girl." Sango stated as she jumped off of Kirara along with Miroku and Shippo.

Without looking up at anyone in the group, the girl saw a little opening and began to crawl up to her feet as quickly as she could.

"Oh no you don't!" InuYasha said as he stepped on her back and held her down.

"I asked you a question! I want you to answer me!" InuYasha gloated.

"Careful InuYasha! She hasn't done anything to harm any of us and she's hurt!" Kagome pointed out as she sat down next to the girl.

"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you, we just didn't know who you were." Kagome tried to comfort the girl.

"Then tell Mutt-faced here to get off of me!" the girl muttered in a painful breath.

InuYasha clenched his teeth and held his fist up in anger as he said, "Why you..."

"InuYasha! Come on! She didn't do anything wrong! Get off of her!" Kagome ordered.

InuYasha stepped off of the girl and she sat up holding her left arm.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Kagome asked the girl.

"I think I broke my arm after your buddies here came out of nowhere and scared the living daylights out of me." The girl said angrily as she finally looked up at everyone.

When she looked up, everyone was taken back after they all gave her a quick going over. Her hair was jet black, except for what seemed like blonde highlights, and her eyes... her eyes were the same as InuYasha's. Bright amber-colored.

"What are you all staring at?!" The girl yelled and shook them all out of their dazed state.

Kagome was the first to speak up, "I'm sorry, it's just that you have this look about you. Like we've met before."

The girl thought to herself _"The jig is up!"_

The monk pressed forward and bent down to the girl and looked her straight in the eyes. "InuYasha, can you say that you still smell the scent of a pure-blooded human on this girl?"

"I don't know. I'm a little confused. I smell the blood of a human, but it's almost like it's a mask. Like it's covering up the real scent."

Miroku then looked at the girl and said, "InuYasha is a dog demon, and has a very sensitive nose. He said that he could smell a human scent from you but I sense that this is somehow a lie. You also seem to have great spiritual energy and you managed to break the strong barrier from around Naraku. How is it that you managed to do all of this?"

Everyone was looking at the girl now that Miroku had asked her the questions that they were all thinking. The girl was starting to wonder if she had a good way of getting out of this.

"Why do you all think that I have to answer your questions?! I don't know any of you! One minute I think I'm being a kind stranger the next minute the people I've saved are interrogating me! What's your problems anyway?!" The girl finally let out.

Miroku realized that the girl wasn't about to answer any of his questions truthfully so he sighed and stood up. "Well we did cause your fall which broke your arm. You should come with us and Kagome can give you some of her medical supplies."

The girl stood up on her own slowly and said, "I don't need your help, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. THANKS..." The girl looked around and saw her bow and quiver of arrows lying on the ground nearby where she had landed on the ground.

"Now if you don't mind, I have places to be..." The girl grabbed her things and began to walk off.

"Wait!" Kagome called out, "What about your jewel shard?"

The girl stopped and wondered where this was going but knew she had to act this one out, "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Well you've got a broken arm, and a jewel shard, and you're a human! Don't you think that other demons are going to try to take advantage of that?"

"She's right" Sango chimed in, "You're making yourself a prime target for any demon who's looking for a free jewel shard. Plus I'm sure that Naraku is looking for you since you managed to get through his barrier."

"Yeah!" Shippo added, "It will take weeks for your arm to heal, at least stay with us until then! You could get hurt worse than you are now!"

"Don't be stubborn... Just come with us already... Don't make us drag you along..." InuYasha stated.

Even though the girl didn't want to admit it, they were right. Even though she had disguised her demon powers, it was fruitless. She still might not have had the strength to pull the bow string to shoot an arrow for a few days. Plus she had hidden her bag of food and other things away so that no one could find them until she was ready to get them herself. If she stuck around them for a couple of days it wouldn't hurt anything as long as she left before they noticed.

"Just for a few days then... After that I'm going off on my own. Got it?" The girl let them know what was going to happen.

"Alright then, now let's all go, it's nearly morning and we should get back to the hut to collect our things," Miroku stated.

The seven travelers made their way back to the small hut that the six of them had been rested in previously. Kagome bandaged up some of the scratches on the girl's arm and created a make-shift sling for her broken arm.

"So what's your name?" Shippo asked whimsically.

Without even stopping to think the girl blurted out her name and said, "Kaede".

Once again she had everyone stopping at what they were doing to look at the girl. She then realized what she had done but she had to cover up her tracks.

"Why is it that every time I say or do something I get these daggers in my skull?"

"Well it's just that, we also know someone by that name," Miroku stated.

"It's not like it's an uncommon name or anything... Will you all stop staring at me?!?!" Kaede yelled.

"My, she certainly has a bad attitude," Sango whispered to Miroku, "Yes, she has certain qualities that demons we know also possess..."

Kaede heard what they had said but she didn't want to give herself away anymore than she already had by letting them know that she had heard them.

"So, Kaede, where is it that you learned your spiritual skills from? You must have been practicing them for many years to acquire such a skill," Miroku asked.

"I've learned them from... a great priestess. I lived in a temple and was taught everything about priestess powers and over the years have practiced my hand at them," Kaede responded quickly. Really, she wasn't lying, she really did learn them from a great priestess.

"Oh? What was the name of this great priestess?" Miroku continued to ask the questions that dismayed Kaede and caught the attention of everyone else as they all helped to prepare a lunch, except for InuYasha, who hadn't taken his eyes off of the girl since they had arrived back at the hut. He was studying her in order to make sure that she wasn't a threat.

"Well, no one there called her a name. She preferred to be called nothing more than a priestess. It was her way of showing her respect to the dignity of a servant to the gods and the people." Kaede lied.

There was a moment of awkward silence and then Shippo asked, "Where was this shrine?"

Kaede should have known that they were going to press on with these questions... But she still had to quickly cover her tracks, "Well it's several hundreds of miles away from here. It's been years since I've been there."

Another awkward silence.

Kaede couldn't take it anymore. She was beginning to feel like she was going to be questioned until they knew about every freckle on her body, and every scratch she had ever had.

"Listen, this was a bad idea, I mean, thank you for the medical treatment and all, and for the herbs, but I really shouldn't stay," she said as she walked to the door of the hut.

Before she made it to the door, InuYasha stopped her and said, "You're in no shape to go out there on your own."

Kaede began to become angry, "I don't really think that something like that is for you to decide for me..."

"Fine..." InuYasha said as he picked up her bow and quiver. He took an arrow out of the quiver and walked the girl outside. The others followed.

"Shoot this arrow then, " InuYasha demanded as he handed her the bow and the arrow.

"If you haven't noticed I have a broken arm..." Kaede snarled.

"Then if you can't shoot an arrow, you can't leave here..." InuYasha growled at the girl.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!" Kaede yelled.

"If you can't defend yourself, then you shouldn't be out alone. Especially since Naraku has been in the area, it's too dangerous for a human girl to be out on her own, even if she has spiritual powers like yours. If you can't shoot a sacred arrow, you can't defend yourself, " InuYasha scolded.

"For gods sakes! I'm not a child learning how to defend myself, I can do other things besides shoot a dumb arrow!" Kaede whined.

"Fine then..." InuYasha took the bow and arrow and sat them down as the others continued to watch.

"What are you doing now?" Kaede whined again.

"Since you can defend yourself without an arrow, I'm going to attack you. If you can defeat me, you can leave..." InuYasha said as he walked farther away in order to make a running jump.

"InuYasha! You can't be serious! She's injured!" Kagome yelled at the stubborn dog demon.

InuYasha stopped and turned around and started to run at the girl.

Kaede couldn't believe this! He was seriously going to attack her and she had to defend herself without using her demons powers to prove that her spiritual side was strong enough to use in the wilderness. Every moment that she was thinking about what to do, InuYasha got closer and closer and began to ready his claws for an attack. Kaede's mind was racing. Damn! She really should have trained with her spiritual powers more!

InuYasha lunged at the girl as he began to swing his arm and yelled "IRON REAVER-"

_"What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?" _Kaede's mind raced on and on.

"SOUL STEALER!!!" InuYasha's claws were just inches away from her when she finally yelled, "ALL RIGHT! FINE! I CAN'T USE ANYTHING BUT AN ARROW!"

InuYasha stopped just before his claws even came close to tearing through her flesh. He landed on the ground and took her bow and arrows and handed them to Kaede.

"When you can show me that you can shoot these the same way that you shot that arrow that broke Naraku's barrier, then you can leave. Until then, you're stuck with us, so get used to it!" InuYasha turned and walked back into the hut.

Kaede had a dazed look on her face and the others were unsure if they should do something to comfort the girl or go inside and finish lunch like nothing had just happened.

"What the hell are all of YOU staring at?" Kaede scorned the group.

They all scattered back into the hut saying that they all had different things to do to look inconspicuous about their interest in what had just happened.

It was later that evening that everyone had settled down and were about ready to go to sleep when InuYasha asked, "Hey, where did Kagome and Kaede go off to?"

"Well Kaede left a few minutes ago to go fill a canteen with water from the river, and I think Kagome's been gone for a little while now to bathe," Sango replied.

Being the worrier that he was, InuYasha decided to go check on Kagome.

He now knew where the nearby hot springs were from the hut since they had spent more than a couple of nights there. He walked for just a few minutes when he found the hot springs, and not to his surprise, found Kagome sitting near them fully clothed.

"What are you still doing out here by yourself?" InuYasha asked.

Kagome was a little surprised, but not really. She knew that he'd be out looking for her if she was gone for too long, "I didn't feel well again so I stayed here for a minute to sit down."

InuYasha sat on some of the rocks nearby and said, "Are you sure that you shouldn't go home? You've been sick like this for days now."

"No, I'm fine. I just needed a minute to sit and relax."

"Come on then, I'll carry you back to the hut so you don't have to walk," InuYasha motioned for her to climb on.

"Thanks InuYasha..." Kagome said as she climbed on his back.

They left the hot springs and a few seconds later Kaede appeared where they had once been. She had been listening from afar and she smiled. Sitting down on the rocks in the hot springs, she pulled out a picture from one of her pockets. She smiled even bigger and laughed a little.

The picture was of InuYasha and Kagome, and InuYasha holding a small infant demon who was pulling on his hair, and Kagome and the infant were both smiling while InuYasha looked frustrated.


	2. The doubt and Kagura's Wind

-1Kaede walked back to the hut and walked in slowly so as not to wake anyone who had fallen asleep. When she walked in everyone was sleeping soundly. She walked over to where she was to sleep and she sat down with her back against the wall.

"Where have _you_ been?" The quiet growl of InuYasha nearly surprised the girl.

"I went to the river to get some water and wash my face... Did I forget to ask you permission your highness?" Kaede growled back.

"The next time you go out alone, you should at least take Shippo with you." InuYasha suggested harshly.

"I didn't die when I went out this time did I? Besides, Shippo is still a small child, he has more of a chance of being attacked and harmed than I do..."

"Shippo's not carrying a jewel shard, _and_ he's at least a full blooded demon. Most demons that can smell the blood of a full blooded demon, whether or not he's a child, would probably think twice before attacking him. Only the more powerful demons will attempt to attack him." InuYasha lectured.

"Fine... I don't want to argue about it..." Kaede sat Indian style and put her hands through either sleeves of her kimono and stared at the small fire in the middle of the room.

"So... You're a demon then?" InuYasha asked.

Kaede's heart began to beat a little faster and InuYasha caught on to it.

"I told you, I'm human... I don't know where you people got the idea that I was a demon..." Kaede tried to play it off easily.

"Miroku seems to think that you have a powerful demon aura about you. And your human smell doesn't seem to be completely covering your demon side. I've been keeping track of your human smell and sometimes it doesn't always smell like human."

_"Damn uncle, your arm band isn't doing it's job..."_ Kaede thought.

"I don't know what you're talking about... And I don't know how long it's going to take to make you believe otherwise..."

"That's not all though," InuYasha started again, "Your arm, it's healing."

"Well that's what's supposed to happen isn't it?" Kaede defended herself.

"No, I mean, it's healing faster than a human's arm would heal. I can hear the bones mending. I'd say that it would be fully healed in the next week or so. Human's normally take several weeks in order to heal broken bones."

Kaede sarcastically played it off, "Oh good, that means I don't have to stick around longer than I wanted to then doesn't it?"

InuYasha sighed and looked over at the sleeping Kagome.

"Kagome mentioned that your hair is also a style that she would normally see in her era... And I've never seen anything like it myself."

"What's an _era_?" Kaede tried to act unknowingly.

"...Never mind..." InuYasha bowed his head and closed his eyes.

_"He seems to have caught onto my demon scent, but he doesn't know what kind of demon I am yet, or who I smell like. So the arm band must be doing most of it's job otherwise he'd ask me why it is that I smell like a mixture of him and Kagome. Although I'm glad I got here in this era when I did. If I had gotten here just a few days earlier, I might have stopped them from conceiving me..."_

Kaede looked to InuYasha and Kagome and smiled a little. Then she looked to the others who were sleeping soundly. Her demon side could hear their deep and slow breaths, so she knew that they were asleep.

_"So this is the whole group huh? Mom was right... I can see how she enjoyed staying with all of them. They're so friendly... For some reason I feel safe with them without a second thought..."_

Kaede closed her tired eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

----------------------------------------------------------

Naraku arrived back at his castle, when he walked by Kagura she stood still in shock for a moment.

_"He...He's shaking!! He's trying to walk firmly to show otherwise but I can clearly see him shaking!"_

"Kagura!" Naraku shouted as he half turned to look at her, "I have a mission for you... Follow me..."

Kagura had no choice but to do as she was told, so she followed Naraku until he sat down and Kanna walked into the room as well.

"It seems as though there is another powerful priestess. This one seems even more powerful than Kikyou or Kagome with her Sacred arrows. She may even be following and protecting InuYasha and his friends. So start looking for her there."

_"Another priestess? Even more powerful than Kikyou?! Where did such a woman come from? Whoever she is, she's got Naraku scared..."_

"Kagura! Do I have tell you again?! Go now!"

"Of course..." Kagura bowed to him and then walked out of the castle and threw one of the feathers from her hair into the air to ride upon it.

"I wonder why Naraku seems so tense about this new woman? He said that she has more power than Kikyou... Maybe... This woman broke through Naraku's barrier! Someone that powerful would definitely have Naraku a little on the worried side..."

Kagura picked up speed as her feather sliced through the sky winds and rode off towards the lead of where this new priestess was.

It was finally morning. Kaede awoke to find that everyone was still asleep. It was still very early, the sun hadn't even halfway risen from the horizon yet, but it was light outside and that's all Kaede needed to wake her up. She stretched a little as she stood up slowly so as not to wake anyone, and walked out. She could hear that InuYasha was asleep so she didn't worry about him following her as she stepped out of the hut and breathed in the fresh, forest air.

"Well, I may as well go back down to the water and wash up."

The girl walked down a long hill which was covered with trees. The morning dew was falling off of the tree's leaves and onto the girl's head. She decided to take her shoes off in order to feel the dew from the grass between her toes, and it felt wonderful for such a warm, humid morning. Finally, the girl was at the large stream which raced at such a fast pace that even she would have trouble swimming against flow if she had to.

"My arm is already starting to feel better, which doesn't surprise me, " Kaede said as she unwrapped her broken arm and stretched it out from shoulder to the tips of her fingers, which felt so good to her.

"Well hello there..."

Kaede jumped at the sound of a woman's voice.

"Kagura!" Kaede jumped to her feet with her back facing the river.

"Well you know you _I_ am, but I have no idea who _you_ are... Who the hell are you anyway? And why do you have Naraku so worried?"

"I'm no one of concern for anyone, and if this "Naraku" is worried about me, then why hasn't he come to face me himself?!" Kaede knew she was in trouble. Her arm was mending but it still wasn't strong enough for a battle with the wind demon.

"Why do you smell like a human? I sense demon..." Kagura demanded.

"I don't know what you're talking about!!"

Kagura sighed and said, "I'll ask you once more, and then it's no more miss nice Kagura... Who are you?"

"I'm no one!" Kaede defended again.

"Fine, if you won't answer my questions the easy way, then it's the hard way for you!" Kagura said as she brought her fan up"

"DANCE OF BLADES!" Kagura shouted as her fan shot out crescent shaped wind blades which tore through Kaede before she managed to jump out of the way.

The blast threw the girl to the ground. She had cuts all over her body and her clothes were torn to shreds. It didn't take her long to stand back up and flex her demon claws.

"So you _are_ a demon. Are you ready to fight? Or are you ready to answer some questions?"

"I beat you once before, I'll beat you again!" Kaede said as she ran towards the woman.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" The girl shouted as she swung her claws at Kagura.

_"What the hell is this?! She's faster than I thought she was!"_

Kagura nearly didn't make it out of the way and her right arm was nearly torn to shreds.

"Damn you! Who the hell are you?!"

Kaede was catching her breath as she cradled her left arm and didn't say a word.

"Fine, once more of my blades should take care of you! DANCE OF BLA-!"

"I don't think so!" InuYasha brought his sword down upon Kagura but the woman managed to move out of the way before she was cut down to size.

InuYasha landed right in front of the bleeding Kaede and pointed his sword at Kagura.

"Picking on humans now are we, Kagura?!" InuYasha snarled.

"She's no human! You should know that InuYasha!" Kagura demanded.

Kagome and Sango flew down on Kirara and grabbed Kaede and took off towards the foot of the hill where Miroku and Shippo were waiting. They landed and put Kaede sitting on the ground.

"Are you all right?" Shippo asked.

Kaede didn't answer, she was busy paying attention to Kagura, who was looking to her as well.

"That girl has Naraku wanting to know what she's all about. I don't know how, but she's got him worried. So you better keep a close eye on her..."

Kagura said as she threw her feather into the air and rode away.

"She's gone.." InuYasha said as he put his sword away and turned to Kaede.

"Naraku must have an interest in you because you broke his barrier. This isn't good. He'll probably keep a close eye on you as well..." Miroku stated as he looked over the girl's wounds.

"I thought I told you not to come out here alone!" InuYasha yelled as he approached the group.

Kaede was still catching her breath, but stood up on her bleeding legs and faced the dog demon.

"I'm fine... She caught me by surprise, that's all..."

"Were you expecting her to send you a letter to let you know when she'd be coming?!" InuYasha scolded again.

"Stop it InuYasha, these wounds are going to heal with you yelling!" Kagome scorned at the boy.

Kaede moved away from them and said, "I told you that I'm fine! I've had worse wounds than this..." Kaede then passed out and fell to the ground.

"Dumb girl..." InuYasha said.

The group was back at the hut and they had Kaede inside asleep, all bandaged up, while the rest of them stood outside and talked away from the quiet atmosphere of the hut. They were all sitting on the ground eating breakfast as they spoke.

"Naraku is going to be after her like white on rice. We can't let just let that go." Kagome said.

"I agree, her spiritual powers seemed to have attracted quite a bit of attention to her from Naraku. But something else worries me. I have sensed that she was more than just a human, and so has InuYasha. And after just a few minutes of battling with Kagura, she picked up on her demon aura as well. Either Kaede knows that she's a demon and she's trying very hard to cover it up, or for some reason or another, she really doesn't know that she's a demon. Either way, I've never heard of a demon with natural priestess powers like hers. She's very much so, one of a kind, and that makes her a danger to herself." Miroku stated.

"Wait a second! InuYasha, the only reason we knew where she was, was because you could smell her blood! Did you notice any demon scents from it?" Sango asked

"...No... She smelled like a human like she always has..." InuYasha said solemnly.

"Well we're definitely not going to get any answers by just asking her. So we're just going to have to see if she decides to trust us and tells us on her own." Miroku added.

Kagome looked to Miroku and said, "You know, it's weird. I haven't, yet, seen you do anything lecherous to Kaede…"

"Now that you mention it, he really _hasn't_ done anything like that to her," Sango commented.

Miroku wasn't taken back at this and said calmly, "I still believe that this girl has some sort of demonic powers, and being that she's a demon, I prefer to not to, as they say, _walk the waters_, on this one."

"I always thought that as long as it was a woman Miroku wouldn't care?" Shippo asked with his little arms crossed.

Miroku's eyes widened and he put his hands up in defense, "Come on now! Give me a little more credit than that!"

InuYasha looked up and said, "Well you know what they say Miroku? Give them an inch and they'll take a mile…."

Kaede woke up slowly, her vision blurred into perspective as she began to realize where she was. When she realized that she was back in the hut, she sat up slowly feeling the pain of all of the cuts on her body. She looked at herself and noticed that she was bandaged and had been given healing herbs.

She began to hear people talking outside and peeked outside the blanket that covered the hut entrance to listen


	3. Her reason and her Nightmare

Kaede poked through the curtain which covered the door of the hut and began to listen in on the conversation between the other six.

"Listen guys, I know that this girl could be in trouble if she's on her own, but I'm not sure if we can just keep her with us all of the time. She seems pretty adamant about leaving soon too." Kagome stated.

"We don't have many options about it. If she wants to go, we can't keep her here. For now, we can just play on her wounds and hope that she trusts us after she's healed and strong enough to travel on her own." Miroku stated.

"We'll have to take shifts watching her after she wakes up. She'll probably want to be up and around as soon as she's awake so we'll need to find a way to keep her settled for a while." Sango added.

_"Oh great! Now they're going to baby-sit me until they think I'm well... I'm a demon for crying out loud! They're going to want to keep me around for weeks!... I promised uncle that I would do my best not to interfere with their travels, and now they're all about wanting to keep me around! This couldn't possibly get any worse than it already is..." _

Kaede wasn't sure what she was supposed to do now. She had already played too big of a role in the past and she wasn't sure what damage she had already done to it.

"Oh, you're up!" Kagome walked into the hut and nearly jumped back at the sight of Kaede sitting up on her own already.

"What happened?" Kaede asked as if she didn't already know.

"You stood up too soon after losing so much blood and you passed out. We brought you back up here and bandaged you up, you really took some hits!"

"Is she up already?" Sango asked as she walked into the hut along with Miroku and Shippo.

"Amazing! Not too many people have the handling on wounds like that, and she's _still_ seemingly untouched!" Miroku said cheerfully.

"Listen, thank you for taking care of me, really... But I've already fiddled enough in your own travels, so I really should get back to my own affairs." Kaede tried to explain herself as nicely as she could.

"Right, we'll let you leave so that you can get yourself attacked by Kagura again! Sorry about your luck, but you're stuck where you're at. You'll be lucky if we let you leave this hut for a while!" InuYasha added his sarcastic toned comment.

"I'm not a helpless child, okay?" Kaede said in a surprisingly quiet tone.

"You don't understand, I have things that need to be taken care of and I've already meddled too much where I shouldn't have. Just believe me okay?" Kaede tried calm reasoning.

"...No..." InuYasha stated as he walked away from the hut.

_"Well, there went that idea..."_ Kaede thought.

"Look, after battling with a strong demon like Kagura, you need to rest. You could only cause more damage to yourself by walking for miles alone." Kagome tried to reason with the girl.

"...Just for a while... I have to get going in a few days, so after that there's no if's, and's or buts about it... Agreed?"

Kagome nodded her head and walked away with InuYasha.

----------------------------------------------------

InuYasha sat in a tree not far away from the hut and Kagome followed him there.

"So what's your deal anyway? You've been quiet for a while now." The girl asked.

"...Nothing..." InuYasha said as he looked to the sky.

"It's never _nothing_! Come on! I thought we could talk to each other about things!" She began to get irritated.

"It's nothing already!" InuYasha replied angrily.

"Fine!" Kagome said as she walked away.

Miroku and Sango had left the hut and Kaede sat back against the wall. She closed her eyes and began to fall asleep again.

"So, who's watching her first?" Miroku asked as he sat back down where they were eating.

"Kirara and I can. I wouldn't doubt that she'll be asleep for a while though, so it shouldn't be too difficult."

Back in the hut Kaede began to dream.

-----------------------------------------------------

It was a beautiful sunny day and a little girl about the age of 10 was playing in the courts of the shrine in which she lived. The ball she was playing with bounced out of her reach and rolled into the old shack where a certain well was. She looked at the shack and became fearful. Her parents had told her to stay away from the well unless they were with her, but she knew better than to go into the well without them so she proceeded to walk into the shack. Kaede looked around and saw that the ball had stopped just at the foot of the well at the bottom of the stairs. Slowly walking down the stairs, the girl was careful on the old wooden staircase. She got to the bottom of the stairs and walked towards the well to pick up the ball.

"Got it!" The girl proclaimed.

Just as she turned to walk back up the stairs, the ground began to shake. The girl became scared and looked with her amber eyes back towards the well. It began to glow with a bright blue aura and a shadow appeared from the lip of the well.

The girl turned back towards the stairs and dropped the ball, running up them as fast as she could. Her heart was racing and all she could think of was getting to her parents.

"Well well, look what we have here!" A deep voice called from the bottom of the stairs and the girl turned to see a man staring back at her with small, beady, red eyes. There were what looked like several vine-like arms surrounding the man.

He smiled at her, and she could smell with her demon nose that this man had the smell of fresh human blood all over him. He had just killed many humans!

The little girl turned back towards the door and ran for her life! When she got to the door and opened it just a crack of the way, one of the vines grabbed her and picked her up.

"Where are you going?" The demon said with a taunting voice.

"Let me go! Daddy!!! Help!" The girl cried out.

"Why don't you and I go see your "daddy"... We can discuss this together with him!" The man levitated off of the ground and then flew through the doors and into the courtyards of the shrine.

"Naraku!" another man's voice yelled.

The demon turned to see a familiar sight of InuYasha and Kagome with discouraged looks on their faces.

"What's the matter InuYasha? Aren't you happy to see me?!" The man said, then producing the arms which held the little girl.

"Kaede!" Kagome shouted.

"Mommy!" The girl cried out again.

"So this is where you've been hiding for all of these years! And is _this_ the reason that you were hiding in the first place? I'm surprised at you InuYasha!" Naraku said as he threw the little girl down on the ground.

"Damn you Naraku!" InuYasha stated as he and Kagome ran to the girl's side.

"Kagome, take Kaede and run!" InuYasha ordered.

The woman picked up the little girl, who was now unconscious, and ran to the home.

InuYasha pulled out his Tetsusaiga, which he had always kept with him, and pointed it at Naraku.

Back at the house, Kagome ran to her mother and brother and yelled, "We have to get into the basement! Naraku's here!"

At this point the little girl began to wake up and she could hear everyone's heart beginning to pump loud and hard.

"Mommy?" the girl squeaked out.

"Kaede! Listen, mommy has to go help daddy! Go with Uncle Sota and Grandma for me okay?" Kagome asked as she put the girl down and grabbed her old bow and quiver of arrows.

Just then, the sharp smell of blood poked at the little girl's nose.

"...Daddy! Mommy! Where's daddy?!" Kaede started to squirm in the arms of her grandmother.

"I'll be right back! I'm going to help InuYasha!" Kagome yelled as she ran back out of the house.

"Mommy!" Kaede yelled.

"Sis!" Sota yelled as well.

Kaede could feel Kagome's spiritual energy grow and then... it was gone...

"...Mommy... NO!! Mommy!!!" The girl managed to get out of the loving arms of her grandmother and run out of the house and back onto the shrine courtyards.

"Kaede! Wait!" Sota yelled giving chase to the child.

Kaede ran back out onto the courtyards and saw the horrible sight... Her mother and father's body being ingested by the gruesome demon Naraku...

Sota ran out and saw the sight as well and they both stood in complete shock.

Sota then realized where he was and grabbed his niece, and yelling at his mother, "Get in the car mom! Hurry!"

The three got into the car and took off.

Kaede looked through the back window of the car as they sped off and saw the vine arms of the demon destroy their home.

"NOOOOOO!" The girl yelled.

-------------------------------------------

"NO!" Kaede yelled as she awoke from her nightmare.

She was sweating bullets and some of her wounds had reopened and were bleeding through the bandages. Kaede remembered where she was and looked around the hut. It was night now, and everyone was asleep. The only one that was missing was InuYasha.

Kaede pulled herself up and walked outside into the cool night air.

"What are _you_ doing up?" A voice called out.


	4. He knows best

-1"What are _you_ doing up and around?" A boy's voice called out quietly.

Kaede jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to see InuYasha perched on the top of the hut. It was obvious that it was his turn to watch to make sure she didn't leave. InuYasha took quick notice that the girl was sweating, breathing rapidly as if she were running, and her heart was racing.

He jumped down from atop the hut and said, "What's wrong?"

"I... I just had a bad dream that's all. I needed to cool off..." Kaede turned back towards the trees to look away from the boy.

"...Come on, you and I need to talk..." InuYasha said as he walked off into the woods towards the river.

Kaede didn't know what he was planning but followed him anyway. They walked down through the wooded areas without him saying so much as a word. Finally, they arrived at the river and InuYasha sat down, as well as Kaede.

"You're a demon, and don't give me any of your defensive lies this time either. I can smell it without a doubt now." InuYasha said quietly.

Kaede looked to the side and into the river, which was still flowing at a rather fast pace.

"I knew it this morning. I woke up because I could smell the blood of a demon... a dog demon... I could smell how much blood you were losing and I knew that there was very little time left to help you. What I _don't_ understand, is why you smell like..." and then he stopped.

Kaede looked to him as he looked away and to the ground.

"Like you?" She asked to break the awkward silence.

InuYasha looked up at her with an almost surprised look and then his face relaxed and he nodded.

"But that's not all... you smell like... Kagome too..."

Kaede wasn't sure what to do almost. The cat was out of the bag now for sure and she wasn't sure about how easy all of this would be to explain to him.

"So what's going on?" InuYasha finally asked.

Kaede sighed as she began to speak.

"I'm from another point in time. And to answer your question, yes, I am yours and Kagome's kid. In my time, things are a lot different than they are from what you know of Kagome's time. Things have gotten much worse. Naraku has taken over -"

"Naraku?! He's there too?!" InuYasha was shocked. Had he really let that awful demon live long enough to find the entrance to the present?

"Yes, a lot of things happened between the time that I was born and when I was 10. Naraku found us after he happened to be passing by the well and could smell my scent, which of course smells similar to yours, and he followed it down the well. And because he had a piece of the Jewel it allowed him to travel to the present and he discovered our whereabouts. That's when... You and mom were killed." She finished.

InuYasha was taken back._ "I...I was killed by Naraku?! And Kagome... she... was killed as well?!"_

"That's what I was having a nightmare about... I can only seem to dream about that day when I saw you two being absorbed into Naraku's body. I watched it all happen... The only reason why I'm alive was because my uncle pulled me away from the scene and we went into hiding." Kaede added.

InuYasha looked to the girl who was now almost unable to talk.

"Uncle... he was an inventor, and he invented the device that allowed me to come back to this time, as well as the device which was supposed to completely cover my demon scent. The reason that I needed that was so that you and Shippo didn't catch onto my scent, but as you well know, it didn't work very well. I guess it's really only good for smaller demons with senses that aren't very good, and to humans." She finished.

"So... when were...are... you born?" InuYasha almost couldn't ask this but he had to know.

Kaede smiled and said, "You haven't noticed a change in the scent of Kagome yet? I'd be surprised if you haven't..."

"I... I thought something was different about her... but I wasn't sure what it was..." InuYasha turned red in the face.

Kaede laughed and said, "Yeah well, that's me in there."

"So I guess you're only a quarter demon then?" InuYasha asked.

"No. I'm actually closer to full demon than you are." Kaede responded.

"What?! How did that work?!" the boy was confused.

"When I was born my mother's spiritual powers were so strong, that for some reason it enhanced my demon powers, so I'm not completely a full demon, but I'm at least three quarters demon. And of course, the other part of me is human."

The boy looked back to where the hut was and asked, "So you're here because you're going to try to kill Naraku yourself then?"

"Well, that's the idea. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to interact with you guys at all so that none of this was revealed and your lives would go on as they should have. I should have made a faster getaway knowing my mom. I really should have known that she'd want to know who shot that arrow." The girl said as she laughed it off a little.

"Which is why you've been wanting to get away from us so fast..." InuYasha looked away.

"It's nothing personal, of course. It's just that I really shouldn't have meddled with you guys. I could already be changing the future as we know it." Kaede tried to make him understand.

"How am I supposed to know that this isn't some sort of trick by Naraku? I mean, what proof do you have that you're actually our kid from the future?" InuYasha suddenly asked.

Kaede wasn't surprised that he had asked this question. She knew her father, and she knew that he didn't trust everything right off the bat. The girl unzipped the hidden pocket in her kimono top and pulled out a small piece of what seemed to be some sort of glossy, reflective paper and threw it at the boy. InuYasha picked it up from the ground in front of him and looked at it.

"This... This is me! And Kagome! And then... this must be..."

"That's me... when I was just a few months old," Kaede finished InuYasha's sentence.

InuYasha couldn't take his eyes off of this photo for a moment, but then handed it back to the girl. Kaede put the photo back into the zip pocket in her kimono top and looked to InuYasha.

"So what are you expecting to happen to you when and if Naraku has been defeated?" InuYasha asked turning back to look her in the eyes.

"If everything goes as planned, this part of me will disappear and die. And my life will continue through the new future." Kaede explained.

"You'll... die?"

"Well, yes. Sort of anyway. The girl you see before you will die, but I'll still be alive within Kagome, and everything in the future can be changed for the better. I'll just be living a different life. That's all."

Kaede stood up slowly and InuYasha then noticed that the bandages on her arms and legs were bleeding through.

"You're bleeding again..." he pointed out.

"Yeah, I never was able to stay still when I was injured."

Kaede turned back around towards the boy and noticed that he was standing right next to her, motioning to get on his back.

"Come on, we need to fix those," he stated.

"It's okay, I'm fine," she said.

The boy grabbed her arm and turned her around fully towards him and he said, "Now listen, I'm your...father... and I think that if my kid was injured like this, I would want her to be healed. You're not letting yourself heal this way so just do as I say!"

Kaede suddenly felt like it was back before he had died. She was being scolded by him once more. This may have been the first time for InuYasha to punish his kid, but for Kaede, it was a memory that she would always remember.

"Fine," she said as she climbed onto his back.

She then remembered the fond memories of when she'd ride on his back when she was a little girl. He would jump so high and she would hold on as tight as she could. It was almost like it wasn't happening. Like she was reliving her childhood in a dream.

They arrived back at the hut and they saw a familiar face standing outside looking for them.

"Where have you two been?" Kagome asked with a tired voice.

InuYasha let Kaede off of his back as her heart began to race. She forgot to tell him not to tell anyone about this! If too many people know then -

"She tried to walk off again... I had to chase after her, " InuYasha said like he always did when he was annoyed.

Kagome looked to the girl and said, "And you wounds are open again too! Come on, we'll fix this up for you then!" 

Kagome walked into the hut and Kaede smiled at InuYasha as he smiled back at her to let her know that her secret was safe with him. And they walked into the hut to rest for the evening.


	5. Time to leave

It had been three days since Kaede had told InuYasha about her mission. And now he realized that her wounds were healed and her broken arm had mended, although she carried the arm in a sling to ensure that the others wouldn't get suspicious. InuYasha knew that she would soon be ready to leave, but he had hoped that it wouldn't be for a while. Although, he knew of her dilemma, and if she decided to do so, he knew that he could not stop her from leaving them.

Kaede was sitting with the group while they were packing their things to get a move on. She decided that now was the time.

"Umm listen guys..." she started. They stopped what they were doing to listen. InuYasha chose to act like he wasn't paying attention because he already knew what the girl was going to say.

"Thank you for all of your help... Really... But when you guys leave this place, I'll be traveling in a different direction. I have to get back to what I was doing."

The group looked between each other as if they were talking telepathically to discuss what the girl had just spoken about.

"Well, I guess that there would be nothing we could do to change your mind about this. If you insist upon this so greatly, then we cannot stop you," Miroku spoke for the group.

"I appreciate you guys understanding. This is just something that I have to do on my own. I think that I've taken up enough of your traveling time as well."

Kaede stood up, gathered up her bow and threw her quiver over her shoulder.

"Thank you for all of your help... Really, I'll never forget your kindness," Kaede said as she led herself out of the hut and disappeared into the forest.

After only a few minutes of traveling she heard someone fast approaching her from behind and she turned slowly. She already knew who it was.

"This is stupid!" The dog demon's voice broke through.

"What's stupid?" Kaede asked, as if she didn't already know.

"You know damn well what's stupid! You think that you're going to beat Naraku by yourself! You're going to get yourself killed!" The demon growled with anger.

"Do you think that if I hadn't shot that arrow and Kagome ran after me to find out who I was... Do you think that you would have thought the same way if I had died by the hands of Naraku and you didn't know about it?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?!" He yelled.

Kaede turned around all the way and yelled back, "EVERYTHING!... I wasn't supposed to interact with you guys in the first place... If I hadn't, maybe I would have changed the future for the better, but now I'm not sure what exactly is going to happen. If I had at least tried to kill Naraku alone, I would have made a little progress, and if I had died, nothing would have changed. But now I'm not so sure..."

"...But it's not the way that it worked out... And now that I know who you are, I feel like I have a responsibility to you. A responsibility that I owe to the older me for leaving you alone." InuYasha said solemnly.

Kaede half smiled and said, "I trained for ten years after you and mom died so I could get you back. You owe nothing to me. You fought for years in order to keep mom and I safe. It's my turn. It's my responsibility. As well as the fact that if I do this right, I could save millions of lives. They would all be okay again, and the future would be preserved for every child who lost a parent. Don't you see? Risking my one life is nothing compared to risking the future of the world. I have to do this..."

There was a long pause of silence while the wind blew through the trees.

Kaede turned and started to walk back the way she was on her way to and tore off the arm sling as she did.

"You'd better get back to the others, they're going to start wondering where you are pretty soon!" Kaede said just as she lunged forward and ran off quickly into the forest. InuYasha waited a minute and then realized that her smell was gone.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Kaede had traveled all day and it was now nearing sunset. She first decided to collect her belongings and then continue on her quest. When she reached the area where she thought that she had left her belongings she decided to rest for a bit and sat back against a tree.

_"This is stupid!...You're going to get yourself killed!"  
_  
She remembered her father's words.

"He's right in a way. Even though I'm more powerful than he is now, I still can't do this alone. But all I can do is try..."

"There you are!" A hideously familiar voice rang out.

"...Naraku..." Kaede said as she slowly rose to her feet. The voice came from in front of her, and so did the stench.

"You, had me worried there for a while woman... But I now know who you are! You are the spawn of InuYasha! And there's nothing to worry about from him!" Naraku's voice finally altered into his form, just in front of her.

"You have _everything_ to be afraid from him... He's the only one that can tear you down into the pitiful demon that you are! But don't worry, I'll do my best to live up to his standards, " she said as she flexed her claws and lunged at the evil demon.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't believe that we actually got another shard!" Kagome said cheerfully as she shook her small bottle.

"Yeah, who knew that we could get one just by helping an old woman pull the weeds from her garden!" Sango added.

"It's beginning to get dark, perhaps we should look for a spot to set up camp for the evening, " Miroku thought aloud.

"That'll be easy, just find a small castle and work your "exorcisms" to scare off the "demons" and we should find ourselves a nice place monk..." InuYasha said sarcastically.

"Well I've already looked for one, but alas, nothing but small, old huts. We may as well just lay out under the stars tonight," Miroku said a little dismayed.

They finally found a spot and lit a fire to warm up some roots and vegetables in a stew. There was a small silence between the group before Shippo spoke up.

"I wonder how Kaede is doing?" He asked.

Everyone looked at the little boy and then to the fire.

"She seemed confident that she would be fine on her own. But I'm surprised that InuYasha just let her go. He seemed sure that she wasn't fit to venture alone the way she was," Sango added.

They all looked to the half-demon who was sulking in a tree in on the top of a hill not far from the fire.

_"He's been so quiet since she left. I wonder what his deal is?"_ Kagome thought to herself as she got up to walk to the boy.

"Hey... We're about to eat soon... Are you going to join us?" she asked the stubborn boy.

"I'm not really that hungry..." he replied softly.

Kagome leaned up against the tree while standing and looked up at the full moon.

"InuYasha, do you think that it was a good idea to let Kaede wander off alone?"

The demon looked down at her from the tree and hopped down next to her.

"...No, I don't think it was. But who are we to stop her? It's not like we're her...parents... or anything, right? I think she was going to leave us whether or not she or us wanted it to be that way." InuYasha said as he put his arms around Kagome for comfort.

"Yeah, I think so too. It didn't seem like she was annoyed by us, it seemed like she felt she had something to accomplish. Even though she went out on her own, though, I think she'll be fine," Kagome said cheerfully.

_"I hope you're right Kagome, I hope you're right..."  
_  
"You know, I think I'm hungrier than I thought I was, how's that stew coming along?" InuYasha said as he and the girl steered towards the campfire.


	6. Naraku Attacks!

Before you read on to my next chapter, I would just like to take a moment to thank the people who have posted their reviews to my story! I appreciate the positive feedback and hope to satisfy your curiosities with every continuing chapter that I add on! I would also like to inform you that I will commit to making a post every Friday from here on out. I have a few chapters written out a head of time, but to keep myself from releasing too much in too little time, I will only post on Fridays. Thank you for reading my first story on this site!

Naraku Attacks!

Kagome and the rest had been traveling for a few hours after spending the night in the forest and they hadn't come upon anything. No shards, no one in need of help, nothing. That is, until they came upon a village.

"Look! A village! Maybe they have a place to eat!" Kagome said happily.

"Yay! Real food!" Shippo said jumping up and down.

As they approached the village, InuYasha began to smell the odor of blood.

"I smell a strong scent of blood... I don't think there's anyone left alive in this village..." he said.

As they entered the village, there were bodies everywhere, along with pools of blood. Before they could wonder what had happened, dark clouds began to cover the sky.

"...I smell Naraku!" InuYasha said as he placed his hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.

They all put themselves on guard and before they knew it, they heard the voice of their enemy.

"What's wrong InuYasha? Aren't you happy to see me?" The man taunted as he appeared overhead of them.

InuYasha could smell the blood of all of these humans on them... As well as the blood of... of...

"...Kaede?..." InuYasha said in shock of the smell.

The group looked to him.

"Kaede? Where InuYasha?" Miroku asked.

"I smell...her blood... all over him!" InuYasha said as his anger built up.

"What's the matter InuYasha? Is there something about me in particular that bothers you? I couldn't imagine what it would be!" Naraku said in a laughing tone.

"Where is she?!" InuYasha asked as he pulled the sword from its sheath.

"Are you talking about that woman? I happened to come upon her in the forest just yesterday. She was very strong, but apparently not strong enough!" Naraku said.

And just to show how ruthless he was, one of Naraku's vine arms pulled a body out from behind him and threw it on the ground.

InuYasha stood, completely in shock, as well as the others. It was the body of the girl... It was Kaede... She was covered in her own blood. The group ran to her and checked her over.

"She's dead..." Kagome said in a sad tone. She still had no idea that the body that they were looking over was the body of her own daughter, but she was sad, nonetheless.

The girl had slashes all over her body, as well as they had noticed that someone had impaled her more than once. She was gone.

"I'll get you for this Naraku... You'll pay... WITH YOUR LIFE!" InuYasha said as he jumped up and swung his sword at his enemy.

As he did this, the group picked up the girl's body and carried her out of the way of the battle and laid her down near a small shack.

"There's nothing we can do I'm afraid... She's gone..." Miroku said as he placed his hands in a praying position.

The group didn't even watch the beginning of the battle between Naraku and InuYasha; they just stood in shock over the body of the young girl that they had just allowed to leave from them.

InuYasha swung his sword relentlessly. Even Naraku was just barely keeping up with him, but was still taunting him with every swing. InuYasha became so angry that his sword was swinging faster and faster.

_"He killed her!... He killed... my daughter! He WON'T get away with this!"_ His mind raced with every swing of his sword.

Finally, InuYasha caught Naraku off guard, and was about to use the Wind Scar to finish him off, but Naraku quickly put up his barrier and it threw InuYasha to the ground from the drawback of his technique.

"No one's here to break my barrier for you this time, InuYasha!" Naraku said as he began to laugh again.

Naraku decided to make another vicious attack as he threw his vine arms towards the group and InuYasha watched in horror as the group just barely had time to move before he had destroyed that area. The shack exploded because of the impact and the area was completely destroyed. The only thing left was dust. But the group managed to get out of the area and was unharmed.

InuYasha felt a wave of relief go over him as he saw that Kagome and the others were okay. But then his anger rose once again. They weren't able to move Kaede's body with them and he knew that the body had been completely destroyed now...

"You vile demon! How dare you try to kill my friends!!!" InuYasha said with a low growl.

"I'll destroy you TODAY!" InuYasha said as he lunged forward once more and swung his sword.

Before the boy could land a hit on Naraku's barrier, Naraku shot out another one of his vine arms and impaled him.

"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled out to him.

Stuck in place, InuYasha's eyes widened and a blood was dripping off of his body. The shock of the hit caused InuYasha to drop the Tetsusaiga and it transformed back into its benign state as the blade struck into the ground, leaving it standing.

"He dropped the Tetsusaiga!" Shippo yelled scared.

Naraku then tossed the boy's body hard to the ground within feet in front of the others. As InuYasha landed on the ground Naraku shot rays of energy from his body and constantly hit the half-demon with the rays. Because of the rays, a cloud of dust arose which caused the group to cover their faces.

Before the cloud settled, Miroku then realized something.

"It's a barrier! A spiritual barrier around InuYasha! Look!" He yelled.

As the dust settled the others took notice that there was, in fact, a strong spiritual barrier around the boy. Not one of the rays managed to land a hit on the boy.

"It's... It's Kaede!" Sango shouted.

Kaede was kneeled down on one knee with her hands on the ground. She was knelt down in front of InuYasha and she looked back at him.

_"Dad..."_ she thought.

She looked back at the group and said, "Take him! Take him and run!"

The group woke from their state of shock and they ran forward towards the barrier. Kaede released the barrier so that they could grab his unconscious body.

Before they left, Kagome asked, "What about you?! You're hurt too!"

Kaede looked back at her mother and said, "...I said go..."

Kagome wished that the girl could have gone with them but she nodded and they ran.

Kaede turned back towards Naraku and walked forward, picking up the Tetsusaiga.

"That can't be!" Naraku said in disbelief.

"I killed you! Why didn't you remain dead?! You would have been better off!" Naraku said in an angry and harsh tone of voice.

"You didn't believe me when I said that you wouldn't be able to kill them off... And now, your blunder will be your fate..."

After getting far enough away to safety, the group laid InuYasha's body on the ground and Shippo turned to Kaede and Naraku.

"The... The Tetsusaiga! It's transformed!!" Shippo cried out.

The others turned and saw that, indeed, Kaede was holding the newly transformed sword. It was as though InuYasha, himself, were holding it.

"ADAMENT BARRAGE!" The girl yelled as she swung the weapon at Naraku.

Naraku's eyes widened in shock and he said, "IMPOSSIBLE!"

The technique ripped through Naraku's barrier and tore his body to shreds. His vine arms fell to the ground and his body was sliced through and chopped into pieces.

"She did it! She killed Naraku!" Kagome shouted.

"No... Naraku fled... again..." Miroku pointed out.

After the dust had settled from the technique, the group saw a figure walking away from the scene holding the, still, transformed Tetsusaiga. When she reached the group she looked to them and they stared back.

"I'm sorry..." the girl said as the sword transformed back into its original state and she fell to the ground, unconscious.

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Morning had risen, and the green on the trees sparkled with the morning dew as the rays of the sun hit them. The sun's beams also hit a small village which had once been completely inhabited, but now there was only a small group of people. The group was sitting near a burnt out fire discussing something.

"So she's a dog demon as well?" Miroku asked.

"Yeah, she's not full demon either, or so she said," InuYasha said solemnly, looking back at a small shack where they had left the girl to sleep off her injuries.

"Well she must not be completely demon then, because she managed to make the Tetsusaiga transform. And according to you and Totosai, the sword will only transform for a demon who also has human elements," Miroku pointed out.

"So... I'm...I'm..." Kagome said with wide eyes.

InuYasha looked to her and laughed, "Yeah. That's her in there."

The group's mood was slightly lighter now that they had known the truth. There was no way that InuYasha could hide from them now that they had seen her use the Tetsusaiga. He knew that it may change the future, but he couldn't keep the secret anymore.

"So how much of a demon is she InuYasha?" Sango asked.

"She said that because of Kagome's strong spiritual powers, her demon side was enhanced, but not completely to full demon," InuYasha replied

"Does that mean she still has a period of weakness?" Miroku asked.

"I'm not sure. She's not a half demon, but she's not full demon either. There's no way to know for sure."

"The answer is yes, unfortunately," a girl's voice called out from the shack.

The group turned and saw her standing in the doorway, shivering because of the pain of her injuries. She slowly limped towards the group and began to fall. InuYasha jumped up, ran and caught the girl before she hit the ground.

"What are you doing?!" He asked angrily.

The girl smiled and said, "Answering your question!"

InuYasha helped the girl over to where the group was and sat her down.

"So what time of the moon cycle is your period of weakness then?" Miroku asked.

"Well actually it's not during a moon cycle at all. It's very random and it doesn't last for one night. It lasts for one full week," the girl explained.

The group was taken back by this.

"You mean you're without your demon powers for an entire week?" Kagome asked.

"Yes, and it's once a year. Once, when I was young, it happened at the end of the year, and then at the beginning of the next year, so I was without it for two weeks straight." The girl said as she tried to blow off the pain of her injuries.

The group had a good laugh and then turned their attention to the girl's pain.

"You should rest now, and let us take care of you until you're fully healed," Miroku explained to her.

The girl smiled and said, "Nah, I've got something better."

She began to stand and InuYasha and Kagome both came to her aid when she stopped because of the pain.

"The only thing better is for you to be resting," Kagome scolded.

"No, I have something that all of you should see, but I have to go get it first," she said as she turned away.

InuYasha knew that the girl would be stubborn and wouldn't allow them to keep her still so he picked her up and loaded her on his back.

"Where do you need to go?" he asked.

She was a little taken off guard by this behavior but she pointed towards a hill and said, "That way!"

InuYasha took off and the rest loaded up on Kirara and followed him. It was a short distance, but behind the shack was a hill which led down to a small meadow with a quiet stream and several large and small rocks.

"Okay, let me down, I can do this," the girl said cheerfully.

InuYasha carefully let her off of his back and the others landed nearby as well.

The girl took each step slowly and painfully, and she had InuYasha behind her with his arms out making sure that she didn't fall. But the girl managed over to a small rock cave and reached in.

"Is that?" Kagome asked.

Kaede smiled and said, "Yep! It's your old backpack! Well it's my backpack now, but... well anyway, it's what's inside the backpack that I thought would bring all of you some interest."

The girl then opened it.

"Ninja food!" Shippo shouted with glee.

Kaede laughed and handed the child some candy, "Yes Shippo, Ninja food, but here's what I really wanted you guys to see."

She pulled out a long item which was wrapped in a large cloth. Kaede unwrapped it slowly and then brought it completely out to show what it was.

"Tetsusaiga!" InuYasha exclaimed.

"Yep!"

"But I thought that you said that it had gone with me in the battle between me and Naraku the day he killed me?"

"I went back a few days after that and I searched the rubble. Really, I was hoping to find you two, but finding Tetsusaiga was all that was left. So after that I trained every day to get my revenge." Kaede said softly.

The group looked at her while she kept her eyes lowered onto the weapon in her hand.

_"She was just a little girl and she had to endure such a horrible loss... We HAVE to kill Naraku now... and SOON..."_ Kagome thought to herself.


	7. Taking care of Kaede and Tetsusaiga

Hey guys! I decided that I'm making such good progress on the continuing chapters that I'll post a new chapter up before Friday. But keep an eye out! I'll still be making postings on fridays for sure, but every now and then I may put another chapter out for you if I keep making this good of progress writing the other chapters!

Enjoy!

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It was dark and InuYasha was the only one sitting outside by the slowly dying, fire. He was holding both of the swords in both hands. He was looking at them as though he were comparing what time had done to it after twenty years of usage.

Kagome awoke from inside the shack and first checked to make sure that Kaede was still there, and she was. She sat there for a moment and watched the girl breathe painfully and tense up while she was dreaming.

_"She's going to leave us as soon as she's healed... She'll want to get straight to going back after Naraku and she won't listen to us... She's definitely as stubborn as...her dad."_ Kagome thought.

She then realized that InuYasha was still outside so she got up quietly and walked outside to where he was sitting.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Look at Tetsusaiga," he said as he stood and transformed it.

The one that Kaede had was covered with scratches and dents. It was obvious that she had played hard with it over the years.

"It looks like it's in need of a good fix," Kagome commented.

"Yeah, she must have really fought hard up to this point." He said as he transformed it back and placed it in its sheath and sat back down.

"What about you? How are you doing?" He asked as she sat down next to him.

"Worried, I guess... It's weird knowing what's going on and knowing who she is. But I guess it worries me that she's as stubborn as you are and she might try to leave us again. If she's killed, I'm not sure how I'll take it. If she's killed, then that means the little one inside of me now will meet her fate too early..." Kagome said staring at the fire.

"Well if she's anything like me, she'll need a push in the right direction, so we have to be the ones to do that. I think she'll stick around as long as we show her that it's worth her time," InuYasha said to comfort the girl.

He looked at her weary eyes and said, "Come on, you need to rest too."

He picked up both of the swords and led the girl into the shack where they all had a good night's sleep.

It was midday the next day when the group was deciding on whether or not to start back on their journey, or wait until Kaede was fully healed.

"I told you, I'm fine!" Kaede said as she could barely stand up on her own.

"Stop that!" InuYasha yelled at the girl.

"You're hurt and you're starting to burn a fever!" Kagome said feeling the girl's forehead.

"Even though she's injured, she's right," Miroku said calmly.

Everyone stopped their arguing and looked to Miroku.

"If we stay here, Naraku will know just where to find us if he heals before she does. We can't just become sitting ducks for him to come after whenever he pleases," He said again.

Before anyone had said anything else, there was a loud rumbling outside which shook the shack.

"What is that?!" Shippo cried out.

InuYasha looked out to see none other than Totosai on his three-eyed bull. Totosai looked at InuYasha from atop of the bull and said, "I heard you were in the area and thought I'd stop by and see how the sword was doing!"

Totosai jumped off of his bull and walked to InuYasha.

"How's the sword, boy? The old man asked.

"Well I've got a few scratches on it; maybe you can fix it up for me." InuYasha replied.

The boy handed the old man Kaede's sword and from the window of the hut, the girl was watching.

"Who's that? And why is InuYasha just handing over my sword to him?" Kaede said as she limped to the door of the shack. Before she made it to the door she was grabbed and held back by Miroku and Sango.

"Do not worry Kaede, that man is the creator of your sword," Miroku explained.

"The creator of the sword?" Kaede asked looking back out of the window.

"Yes, your grandfather had that sword forged from his own fang and then InuYasha had one of his fangs forged into it as well. InuYasha is probably having him repair any damages to it that it may have acquired." he said.

Kaede watched as the sword transformed for the demon.

"Amazing! I've never seen the sword transform for anyone either than myself and my father!" Kaede exclaimed.

"My goodness! What have you done to this sword?! I've never seen any of my work in this bad of shape before!" The old man sat down and blew fire onto the blade and hammered out the dings.

"Well what do you think? I've been fighting with it." InuYasha said sarcastically.

The old man hammered away at the sword and managed to fix the powerful blade.

"I don't know how much more punishment this sword could possibly take from you boy, but that girl over there sure has put a lot into it as well," the old man stated.

InuYasha and Kagome were taken back.

"What are you talking about old man?!" InuYasha yelled.

Kaede knew that she was given away already and reached around her arm where the armband that her uncle gave her was and said, "Well I guess this is just plain useless now..." she said as she ripped the item off and looked back to the old man.

"You must believe that I'm too old and my demon senses have diminished. I can sense her as well as you can my boy. And she has quite the power. I bet she's put a lot of work into it. But she'll never get anywhere if she needlessly swings it around!" The old man said as he hopped back onto his bull.

"Needlessly?!?!" Kaede was able to pull Miroku and Sango along while she angrily tried making her way out of the hut.

"Calm down! You'll only upset your wounds!" Sango tried to reason with the girl.

Totosai jumped at seeing the girl with such an angry expression.

"Oh she's got some temper! I better be on my way then!" He said as he gave the bull a kick and it took off.

"Well that was a short visit..." Kagome said.

InuYasha turned to back to see Sango and Miroku struggling to restrain the injured Kaede.

"Well... Maybe it was better that way..." Kagome said looking back to the others.


	8. The Miasma takes hold!

It was in the middle of the day and the team was now on the move. They had decided that staying where they were was going to be too dangerous. They were already enemies of Naraku, but now they had another person who was also hunted by him. They had to keep moving until Kaede was well enough to battle. Although if you'd asked her, she would have told you otherwise. They had decided to take her back to the village near the well so that she would be under the supervision of the old priestess, Kaede. You see, demons hardly ever get sick, especially adult demons. And having a battle against a demon like Naraku, and coming down with an illness hardly seemed like a coinsidance. InuYasha was carrying the young girl on his back to keep her wounds from, once again, reopening.

"Look there's the village!" Shippo said happily.

"Oh good, we can get some peace and rest and some real food!" Kagome also said happily.

"How's Kaede?" Sango asked.

Kaede's fever had finally taken hold and she was practically motionless.

"She's still pretty warm. Maybe she'll improve when we get her to old Kaede. She should know how to treat her properly, "Kagome replied after looking her over.

The travelers finally arrived at the entrance of the village and were greeted by the villagers, and finally old Kaede.

"Ye have returned sooner than I expected," Kaede said in a calm tone.

"Well we ran into some problems, and we needed your advice on something," Kagome replied solemnly.

"Yeah, we've got someone for you to look at," InuYasha said as he walked up to the old woman and turned to show her the young woman that he was carrying.

"So this is a girl from the different era of the well?" Kaede said as they were all sitting inside of her village hut.

"Yes, and now we need your help with her. A demon's wounds are supposed to heal quickly but she's come down with a sickness of some sort and the healing processed has slowed down," Kagome replied.

The old woman looked back to the young girl lying out on a blanket next to a small fire. She was sweating profusely and her fists were clamped shut.

"Let me ask ye a question. Has she been exposed to a battle with Naraku recently?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah, she was in his clutches for about a day after he thought he had killed her. He kept her body in order to show us how powerful he is, but the thing is, she wasn't dead. At least _we_ thought she was. She managed to stay alive somehow and ended up saving all of us," InuYasha replied.

"I see. I thought that perhaps she had. I believe that she has been exposed to Naraku's miasma, and because of that, her healing has delayed and she has fallen ill. I doubt that this is cause for too much concern, but it's probably the best thing that you have brought her here," Kaede remarked.

"What's going to help her get back to normal then?" InuYasha asked, now very concerned.

"Well she shouldn't move, it may cause the miasma to travel through her body faster, and secondly, I'll have to find the sinenso herbs that will heal this best. It shouldn't be too hard of a task, but I haven't seen much of those plants as of recently."

"What if you can't find the right herbs?" Shippo asked sadly.

"Then she will have to fight the miasma by force, and it may prolong the healing process. But I doubt that she will face death." Kaede said confidently.

"Do you hear that?!" InuYasha yelled, "You have to stay still! And don't think that we're not going to make sure of that either!"

"I don't think that she'll be able to move even if she wanted to," Sango pointed out.

"I agree, I think she's in too much pain, now, to not know to stay. For now, though, perhaps old Kaede and I should be looking for those herbs. The faster we find them, the faster she'll heal," Miroku added.

"I'll come too, the more people that go the faster we'll find this herb," Sango said as she stood up with the others.

"Me too! Come on Kirara!" Shippo said as he bounced out of the hut, following the others.

Now, it was only InuYasha, Kagome and young Kaede in the hut. InuYasha and Kagome sat nearby the young girl and leaned up against each other for comfort. Kaede's eyes were closed but she was not asleep. The pain kept her awake and every time she would flinch or shiver in pain, the two would cringe that much more.

"I've seen Sango fight the small amount of miasma, but Kaede was exposed to it for almost twenty-four hours! The delayed reaction to it must mean that she's going to be taking the full effect for days after this..." Kagome said sadly.

"Don't worry Kagome; she's too stubborn to be taken down by a little poison. She's got your spirit and mine and that'll make it twice as hard for her to be taken down." InuYasha tried to comfort the girl.

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"...Kagura..." Naraku called from within a small barrier where he lay in pieces slowly putting himself back together.

"Yes, Naraku..." Kagura stepped into the room.

"Take Kanna and Kohaku with you and KILL the girl..."

"...Yes... Naraku." Kagura said.

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"Come on Kaede! You've got to eat something!" Shippo tried to coax the demon girl into a warm bowl of soup, but she turned away.

The little boy sighed and said, "She hasn't eaten a thing since the battle with Naraku. Do you think that the miasma is keeping her from feeling hungry?"

"Most likely, but we should keep encouraging it. If she doesn't eat, it could cause the poison to be even more potent," Kaede replied.

"So no sign of the sinenso herbs anywhere?" Kagome asked.

"No, it may take more time to gather it than first expected. I think if we made a trip out to see Jinenji and his mother, we may find what we're looking for, but for tonight, we're really of no use," Miroku replied.

"So... How was that you were able to get out of the grasp of Naraku?" Kaede asked.

"Kaede managed to live from the poisons of Naraku's hold on her and she managed to make the Tetsusaiga transform. She's the reason that InuYasha is alive too. She formed a spiritual barrier against Naraku's attacks on him and kept any one of them from hitting either of them," Sango stated.

"Is that so? Then she must have had great power in order to be in such a state and still manage to use the techniques of the Tetsusaiga. But what about Naraku? Did she manage to defeat him?" Old Kaede asked.

"Unfortunately no... She managed to bring him close to death, but I'm afraid she may not have had full ability to kill him because of her own state. Naraku has managed to flee for the time being, but I'm sure that he is suffering right now as well," Miroku stated.

Kaede added small wooden logs to the fire in the middle of the room as she thought.

"You do not believe that Naraku would be able to come after you after such a battle?" she asked.

"He'll probably be after us sooner or later, but I wouldn't doubt that he's still trying to pull himself together right now," InuYasha stated.

Kagome yawned and said, "We better get some shut-eye if we're going to find Jinenji in the morning."

"Aye. And I have some herbs to allow the girl to sleep through the night as well."

Old Kaede had brewed up some herbs that would help the young Kaede sleep through the night at the very least, and she needed the young girl to drink it down with a mixture of soup. InuYasha picked the girl up by the shoulders slowly and propped her up against his chest and held a small cup of the soup up to her mouth.

"Come on Kaede, you need to drink this down," he told her easily.

"I'm...not hungry..." she squeaked out.

"I don't care that you're not hungry, you're going to take this!" he started to growl at the girl.

Kaede tried to move away but InuYasha wasn't going to let it go that easily.

"You're going to sit here with this soup to your mouth until you take it down, so you may as well give it a try," InuYasha demanded.

"Please, Kaede, just drink it down for us," Kagome pleaded.

The girl looked into Kagome's eyes. She knew that look. She remembered this same situation every time she had been sick when she was younger. Her father forcing the medicine to her mouth, and her mother pleading with her. And the turn-out would always be that she would end up having drunk the horrible tasting liquids.

After looking over the situation, Kaede allowed InuYasha to pour the warm brew into her mouth slowly while her sore, swollen throat just barely allowed for it to be swallowed.

The group sighed together in relief. They knew that if she had at least drunk a warm soup, then she could start to heal faster. And with the young Kaede slowly drifting off to sleep, the others managed to get themselves to fall into a dream state as well.

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As a special treat, I've decided to start adding small excerpts from the next chapter into the chapter before that. So Enjoy!

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"Shippo? What is it?" InuYasha said staring at the scared child.

"Kagura and Kohaku are attacking Sango and Kagome!"

"What?! Come on Miroku!" InuYasha shouted as he practically flew out of the door of the hut.

"I'm right behind you!" Miroku said grabbing up Shippo and running close behind InuYasha.

The old priestess grabbed her bow and quiver quickly and said, "Do not worry, we'll be back shortly!"

She ran outside and gathered up some horses and some of the men in the village and they rode off towards the spring.

_"Mom...Dad... I've got to help...them... but I can't get to my feet... USELESS!! I'm so useless! Whether I was a child, or now as an adult... I'm so damn useless..."  
_  
Kaede then heard the blanket door to the hut shift and her eyes darted in that direction.

"So this is where you've been hiding..." Kagura stared at the girl with her beady red eyes and smiled a horrible smile...

Kaede stared back at her, trying to move the muscles in her body, but to no avail.

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	9. The Plot and the Kidnapping!

I've decided to make another posting this week since I've gotten so far ahead on writing the other chapters! Thank you for all of the good reviews and Enjoy!

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Kaede awoke slowly. She could hear the crackling of the fire in the middle of the hut, but no one seemed to be moving or talking. She couldn't hear the heartbeats of anyone but herself, so she knew that she was at least, alone in the hut. She opened her eyes slowly and saw that she was, indeed, correct. No one seemed to be in the hut, but she could smell the old priestess nearby, outside.

Kaede moved slightly, still in a good amount of pain, but she managed to sit herself up and put her back against the wall. Just as she finished this task, the old Kaede walked into the hut and turned to see what the young girl was up to.

"You're awake!" The old woman said.

"Where... Where is everyone?" Kaede asked.

"Miroku and InuYasha rode on Kirara to see the demon, Jinenji, and Kagome, Sango and young Shippo have gone to a nearby spring to get some fresh water." The old woman replied back as she sat down on the other side of the fire.

"Kagome tells me that you plan on leaving the group after you are healed. Is this true?" The old Kaede asked.

The young Kaede looked to the floor of the hut and said, "I-I'm assuming...that you're...aware of my situation?"

"Yes, they have informed me of what has happened. That you are InuYasha's and Kagome's child from the future of even Kagome's world."

"Yeah... Well, I shouldn't have... interacted with them... I should have left... well enough alone..."

"Yes, they told me that you saved them from the demon Naraku. You are very strong and courageous for doing so."

"...I have to get back...to kill Naraku..."

"And how do ye plan on doing that alone?"

Kaede looked away.

"I...don't know...yet... but I have to do it... to save-"

"Yes, yes, Inuyasha informed me of that as well. But how do you plan on going at this alone and surviving _for_ the future?"

The young Kaede looked to the old priestess, a bit perplexed.

"Your mission is of a good nature, but your plan is not flawless. You have extremely strong spiritual powers, as well as the weapon that was passed on to you from InuYasha correct? Why not use these powers to fight along side with them? Adding your powers to theirs, you could be a very important part of destroying Naraku. Your mission would not be sacrificed, and you would not die in vain."

The young girl looked back to the ground.

"You may not see it now, but you must not know the pain you are causing to InuYasha and Kagome."

"What...are you talking about?"

"They now know that you are the future version of their daughter. And when they see you in pain like this, they cannot help but feel a great amount of remorse. I can already tell that they give a great deal of caring for you, but you are the future version of what will happen to you and it breaks their hearts to see that you would end up as nothing more than another victim of Naraku's. Let them share your journey, and all of you will be more powerful together."

"You...don't... understand..." The young girl spoke.

"What don't I understand? That ye intend on dying?"

"I... don't want to... watch them... die again..." The girl said with a tear floating down her cheek.

The old priestess looked at the young girl with a taken back look on her face.

"I watched them die... once... already... I can't do it...again... They died because of me... I can't let that happen in the past..."

The old woman now knew the other pain that this girl was suffering from.

"It is up to you. But I would rather know that ye had tried to ease all of the pain, than try to escape it on your own..."

The sound of the demon cat's growl rang through the village as she landed.

"InuYasha and the monk have returned," The old woman said as the sound of footsteps approached.

"Lady Kaede, we've returned with the herbs that you've requested," Miroku said cheerfully.

"What is she doing up?!" InuYasha's voice came in loud and clear.

"The young girl and I were having a good talk, InuYasha," The old woman said as she took the herbs and added them to the boiling pot of stew that was already boiling over the fire.

InuYasha walked over to the young girl and felt her forehead.

"You're still burning a bad fever...Don't move," the demon ordered.

"So where are the others?" The monk asked old Kaede.

"To the spring to fetch some fresh water," she said as she poured some stew into a cup and handed it InuYasha.

The boy sat down in front of young Kaede and pushed the cup to her lips.

"Take it," he ordered firmly.

Kaede didn't bother to refuse, she knew the consequences. But she wasn't going to refuse anyway because she was actually starting to feel hungry. She took the cup and nearly gulped it down.

InuYasha was almost happily taken back, and Miroku knew that this was a good sign, but that there was still a long road ahead of them before she could even walk without pain.

"InuYasha!!" Shippo cried out as he ran to the hut.

"Shippo? What is it?" InuYasha said staring at the scared child.

"Kagura and Kohaku are attacking Sango and Kagome!"

"What?! Come on Miroku!" InuYasha shouted as he practically flew out of the door of the hut.

"I'm right behind you!" Miroku said grabbing up Shippo and running close behind InuYasha.

The old priestess grabbed her bow and quiver quickly and said, "Do not worry, we'll be back shortly!"

She ran outside and gathered up some horses and some of the men in the village and they rode off towards the spring.

_"Mom...Dad... I've got to help...them... but I can't get to my feet... USELESS!! I'm so useless! Whether I was a child, or now as an adult... I'm so damn useless..."  
_  
Kaede then heard the blanket door to the hut shift and her eyes darted in that direction.

"So this is where you've been hiding..." Kagura stared at the girl with her beady red eyes and smiled a horrible smile...

Kaede stared back at her, trying to move the muscles in her body, but to no avail.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

InuYasha smelled Kagome's scent and then heard Sango, "HIRAIKOTSU!"

He could smell the scent of Kohaku and Kanna and saw Kohaku's Tama's fly through the air at him. He took out his sword and deflected the Tama easily and then swung his sword at the boy as a warning. Kohaku jumped back to where Kanna was, which was far away from either Sango or Kagome.

"Kagome!" InuYasha shouted.

"InuYasha!" She shouted back.

The boy landed next to her and asked, "Are you all right?!"

"I'm fine, but Sango was hurt by Kohaku!" Kagome replied.

Miroku attended to Sango, who had been knocked unconscious and InuYasha then looked around and saw Kanna and Kohaku doing nothing.

"Where's Kagura?!" InuYasha asked.

"I don't know! She was the first one to attack us, and then Kohaku attacked Sango and we've been too busy trying to defend against him ever since!" Kagome replied.

Old Kaede showed up on a horse within seconds after InuYasha along with the men from the village, ready for battle.

"Old woman! What are you doing here?!" InuYasha shouted.

"We could not sit and let this happen without giving it our all! Where are the demons?!" Kaede yelled back.

"Wait a second InuYasha, if everyone's here to protect Sango and me, then..." Kagome didn't want to think it.

"Yeah... Then where's Kaede?!" InuYasha finished her question.

Miroku gave a shocked look and said, "It's a trap! We fell for Naraku's trap! Lady Kaede! We're fine here! Kanna and Kohaku have left, but Kagura may already be heading for the village!"

InuYasha looked to Kagome and said, "Ride Kirara back with Miroku and Sango!"

"We'll be fine! Hurry InuYasha!" Kagome said in a scared and shocked tone.

InuYasha left the spring with Kaede and the villagers behind him. The more he thought about the trick, the angrier he became.

Finally arriving at the village, InuYasha nearly destroyed the hut as he tore into where they had left young Kaede.

Gone... She was gone. Kaede was gone.

InuYasha could smell her scent along with Kagura's scent, but it was obvious that she had been taken away by Kagura's flying capabilities.

"DAMN IT!" InuYasha couldn't believe that he had fallen for Naraku's tricks again. But what now?

Kirara arrived just before the villagers and old Kaede did.

"InuYasha! Where's Kaede?!" Miroku yelled as they landed next to the hut.

"They took her! She's gone! Kagura took her!" InuYasha yelled while looking to the skies.

Kagome's heart started racing. What can they do?

---------------------------------------------------

Kagura landed her giant feather down on the ground and threw Kaede feet away from her.

"I don't have much time, so let's get straight to business. I still don't know who you are exactly, but what I _do_ know, is that Naraku wants you dead. And he's ordered me to take care of that task. But I have some questions for you." Kagura said in a low tone.

Kaede tried to stand up but her legs were too unstable and all she could do was sit herself up slowly and shiver with pain as she tried to keep from being struck while lying on the ground helplessly.

"I know that you're under the effects of Naraku's miasma, and I'm taking full advantage of that right now. Your powers are great. They're even greater than that of InuYasha's. And I need to make use of those powers. First of all, do you think that you could kill Naraku?"

Kaede looked at the woman with a shocked expression.

"I asked you a question! Are you going to answer, or do I have to get violent?" Kagura threatened.

"I already know why you...you want him...dead... But what I don't understand...is how you...think that it will free your...soul," Kaede replied.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kagura demanded.

"What do you plan to do... when Naraku is dead... Kagura?"

"That should be obvious; I'll be free from him! I'll be able to live my own life!" She stated.

"As what... exactly? What do you plan to do... after you've gained your...freedom?"

Kagura looked away from the girl and said, "I've never had a life of my own to live, so I don't know yet... But anything has to be better than being under the supervision of that damn demon..."

Kaede almost wasn't sure what to do. Her mother and father wouldn't find her before Naraku's insects would, and if that was the case, Kagura would be forced to kill her and that would be the end.

---------------------------------------------

For the next chapter!

Kagura kicked the young Kaede to the ground and stomped on her chest.

"I'll do whatever I please with my life! That's none of your concern!" Kagura seethed.

Kaede laughed through her teeth as a bit of blood ran out from the corner of her mouth.

"Admit it! When Naraku is……dead, you'll have.. no one! No one wants ...you, no one ...cares about you, you'll be ...alone! What kind of life... would that be?!"

"How dare you!" Kagura's anger grew in intensity.

Kagura picked up Kaede by the front of her kimono top and brought her up to her face.

"Maybe Naraku was right, maybe we should destroy we while we have the chance!" Kagura taunted as she lifted her fan and prepared to bring down the final blow.

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	10. Recovered and Recovery

Here's my normal Friday post! Enjoy!

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Kagura kicked the young Kaede to the ground and stomped on her chest.

"I'll do whatever I please with my life! That's none of your concern!" Kagura seethed.

Kaede laughed through her teeth as a bit of blood ran out from the corner of her mouth.

"Admit it! When Naraku is……dead, you'll have.. no one! No one wants ...you, no one ...cares about you, you'll be ...alone! What kind of life... would that be?!"

"How dare you!" Kagura's anger grew in intensity.

Kagura picked up Kaede by the front of her kimono top and brought her up to her face.

"Maybe Naraku was right, maybe we should destroy we while we have the chance!" Kagura taunted as she lifted her fan and prepared to bring down the final blow.

Kaede was almost ready to accept death when she suddenly felt something. She could feel herself regaining some strength in her muscles.

_"The herbs must be starting to dull away the miasma! It's working! I just need a little more time!" _

"I was already... planning on... killing Naraku!" Kaede yelled.

"What?!" Kagura asked.

"What do you...think that... I came here for?" Kaede said.

"Came here? What the hell does that mean?!" Kagura asked, tightening her grip on Kaede's kimono.

"I...I've traveled hundreds... of miles... to get Naraku... to kill him!" Kaede replied.

"So... you weren't just passing by to help InuYasha and the others?" Kagura's temper began to slow down.

"I came to fight Naraku, I just happened upon them!"

Kaede began to feel her demon powers take control over the miasma in her body. Just the same, Kagura noticed Naraku's insects arriving to see her destroy the young demon girl. Just as Kagura noticed the insects, Kaede felt a wave of blood rushing through her and broke the grip that Kagura had on her.

"What are you-?!" Kagura turned her head back to the girl with a shocked expression.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Kaede shouted as she threw her claws at the insects.

After she had destroyed them she turned to Kagura and said, "I'm not going to kill Naraku for you! I'm going to kill Naraku for my own personal vengeance! But don't you worry... I'LL BE THE ONE TO KILL HIM!" She said as she slashed at Kagura to scare her away.

Kagura threw her feather up in the air and as she rode away she snickered at the girl, "I'll be waiting for that day..." And then she was gone.

Kaede took that moment to feel the power in her arms and legs. She had regained enough power to walk and use her claws, but she knew that she still hadn't fully recovered.

"I better get back to the village, they're going to be wondering where I've gone off to!" Kaede said as she began walking back towards the village. The walk would probably take her until nightfall since she didn't feel up to running yet. But she wasn't worried about being found. She knew that Kagura would try to find a way to keep her from dying if it came down to it, and Naraku, himself was in no shape to attack her.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

"InuYasha, can you not pick up Kaede's scent?" Miroku asked.

The group had made it far from the village, but InuYasha couldn't pick up a scent.

"I can't pick up anything... DAMN IT!..." InuYasha said as he knocked down a tree in anger.

He turned to old Kaede and said, "Why the hell didn't you stay in the village?! You were supposed to stay in the hut and protect her!"

"I am sorry InuYasha. Had I known what they were planning I would have stayed with her." The old woman replied sadly.

"InuYasha, it's not like she would have been able to fight against a demon like Kagura anyway! We just have to keep looking, and if nothing else, we'll have to find Naraku's castle..." Kagome said with a bad feeling in her stomach.

"Oh no, _you're_ not going anywhere! It's too dangerous to risk taking you to Naraku's castle! Miroku, take Kagome and the old hag back to the village and look after them and Sango! I'm going to find Naraku myself!" he said, with his anger on the rise.

"Calm down InuYasha! It's no good if you tried to kill Naraku on your own, I'm going with you, and I think old Kaede can take care of Kagome and Sango," Miroku argued.

"Go where?" young Kaede's voice cheerfully broke through the enraged conversation.

"Haven't you been keeping up?! We're going to Naraku's castle to find -" InuYasha suddenly realized who he was yelling at and froze in place.

"Kaede! You're all right!" Kagome ran forward and hugged the young girl.

Miroku and old Kaede ran forward as well and soon realized that it truly was the girl.

"How did you manage to escape the clutches of Kagura?" Miroku asked.

"Those herbs that you gave me diminished some of the miasma in my body, and I was able to scare her and Naraku's insects away. I would have come sooner, but I still don't have much strength, I'm afraid, to run," Kaede replied.

InuYasha stepped forward and hugged the girl tightly, "I'm so glad..."

Everyone there was a bit taken back, but they all knew that he was just as scared as the rest of them. She _was_ his daughter after all.

"Come on, Kagome and Kaede climb up on my back and I'll take you to the village..." InuYasha quietly ordered.

Kaede remembered that tone of voice, and did as she was told. On the way back to the village, a memory was brought back to her quieted mind.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

A little girl about the age of 6 had been wandering where she wasn't supposed to. She was alone in the forest and was trying to find the well which she had fallen through. Her ankle had been twisted after battling a small demon, which she had never done before. Just as the little girl was about to break down in tears and cry, she heard a familiar voice.

"Kaede! Kaede, where are you?!" a man's voice yelled into the full moon's light.

"D-Daddy! Daddy I'm here! Daddy!" The girl yelled in a scared and shivering tone.

The half-demon finally arrived. He saw his young daughter with her torn clothes and scratches along with some bruises, and of course her swollen ankle.

"What did we tell you about going near the well?! It's too dangerous for you to be coming over here without your mom or me!" The man sat down on his knees and looked her over with an angry face.

The little girl looked down at the ground and away from her father and tears started to run down her face again.

"I'm sorry daddy... I didn't mean to run away!" she sobbed.

The man sighed and picked the little girl up in his arms and said, "It's okay; you just scared your mommy and me. You just can't go running off like that. You could have gotten... Just please don't ever scare us like that again..."

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The group arrived back at the village to find that Sango had awoken from her unconscious state. Kaede looked at the woman's wounds and asked, "What happened?"

InuYasha put the girls on the ground carefully and said, "Kagura tricked us. She used Kanna and Sango's brother, Kohaku to lure us away from you so that you would be alone and vulnerable."

Kaede looked to the injured woman and said, "I'm sorry that I'm so much trouble... If I had done any of this right.. -"

"If you had done any of this the way you had planned to do so, you may have already died, and the past would not have changed," Miroku reminded.

"Injuries are a small price to pay compared to death," Kagome said adamantly.

Kaede looked at the six friends as they settled in the hut.

_"I guess I really didn't think about how much each of them has lost already. Miroku lost his father and grandfather to their wind tunnels, and may lose himself to his as well. Sango lost her father and friends in a battle and her brother's life belongs solely to Naraku as long as the jewel shard remains in his back... Father... he had lost his old love, Kikyo, to the deceiving demon... Everyone here has suffered because of that man, and I won't be the one to make them suffer anymore than they already have..." _

It was late in the evening and everyone in the hut was asleep except for Kaede. She looked over everyone as if her father's spirit were inside her. Her eyes stared directly into the fire, which was now diminishing into a small flame.

"Can't sleep?" Miroku asked suddenly.

"No... I've just been thinking a little," she replied.

"About leaving?" Miroku asked solemnly.

"..." Kaede really didn't have a response to that. She didn't want to leave now, but she still worried about what she was doing, even though her heart told her otherwise.

"Tell me something Kaede... You haven't mentioned what Sango, Shippo and I had been doing while you were growing up. Can you tell me what happens to us?" Miroku didn't know if he should have asked, but the question had been mingling in his mind more than he thought it would have, and he needed to know the answer.

Kaede looked at him and then down at the floor with her eyes closed.

"You guys... you died in a battle against Naraku not long after I was born. I never really got to know any of you except through stories. Some funny, some heroic. Even though I had never met any of you, I felt like I had lost a family. Mom and dad felt that way too..." Kaede replied.

"I see... And what about old Kaede? What happens to her?" Miroku asked.

"...She died saving my mom the day that I was born. My parents had decided that they wanted me to be born in my mother's original time and they waited too long to go there. They were attacked as my mother began to go into labor and old Kaede shot an arrow at the demon who would have been responsible for my own mother's death. After that other demons attacked her and she was killed. My parents decided that it was befitting to name me after her since she had lost her life to save mine and my mother's."

"And what about you? Who took care of you after Naraku killed your parents?" He pressed on.

"...My... Uncle..."

"You say that Sesshomaru took you in?" Miroku was shocked.

"No, my mother's brother. Uncle Sota. My grandma, Kagome's mom, died protecting us about a year after we had fled Tokyo to find refuge from Naraku. Dad had trained him a little during the time that I was growing up, so he trained me. He was never as good as dad was, but, he taught me nonetheless." Kaede replied once more.

"I see... You have risked a lot in order to come here then haven't you?" Miroku asked.

"My world has been overrun by demons that were once thought to have died off. Naraku, of course, was the reason behind their being there. Our home, the shrine, everything had been nearly destroyed. But as my training progressed, I had long discussed with my uncle about leaving our refuge and going back, in order for me to stop the past from destroying the future as it was. I took him ten years to accept the fact that I was determined to get my life back. Even when I left, though, he still tried to stop me. He tried to talk me out of it but my mind was made up. I have always been willing to risk everything to save everyone. I've never thought of anything else but the revenge that I would take on Naraku's sorry hide. And I _will_ get my revenge..." Kaede stated firmly.

"Amazing…" Miroku thought aloud.

"What's amazing?" Kaede asked as she looked up at the monk.

"It's amazing how much of your parents I see within you. I can see your strong spirit of InuYasha, where you've made up your mind and that's exactly what you plan to do. Then I have seen your compassion for others, in your need to see everyone alive and well. You are an amazing person, and I have no doubt that you can do amazing things along with those talents." Miroku commented.

"I guess I just could never sit back and -"

BOOM

InuYasha was thrown to the floor.

"K-Kagome?! What the hell was that for-" InuYasha looked to his sleeping girl. She hadn't even been awake...

"If she didn't do that then..." He looked up to see that Kaede and Miroku were awake.

"Oh no..." InuYasha realized what had happened.

Kaede's shocked look turned into an embarrassed one.

"Hey Miroku, did I ever tell you what my first word was?!" She asked cheerfully.

Miroku couldn't help but laugh and say, "Well InuYasha, it looks like you've got a lot of work ahead of you!" he commented happily.

"Oh man... I'm really going to be in for it once this kid is born..." InuYasha said from the hole in the bottom of the hut that the spell had made him create from the fall.

-----------------------------------------------

Next Chapter!

"So, what's the plan now, Kaede?" Sango asked.

"Well, I'm in need of some serious training," she replied.

"Well then, we should start on that today when we -" Miroku was about to comment on before he was interrupted.

"No no, there's no _we_ involved. I need to train on my own, that way I get everything in that I can."

"But Kaede, you heard InuYasha, you can't leave here or he'll get really angry!" Shippo tried to reason with the girl.

"Well that's why I would trust you guys not to tell him that I've gone off alone," Kaede replied sarcastically.

"Shippo's right Kaede, InuYasha could come back sooner than Kagome and then you'd be caught. As well as the fact that it's too dangerous to be out on your own," Miroku commented.

"I told you before, monk, I'm healed. I'm a demon, not a human. I've got my entire demon working in full force, so I can take care of myself. If InuYasha comes back early just tell him the truth, I don't care. But I need this time to spend on my own, regain some sense of things," Kaede replied.

"It's too dangerous Kaede! If you're harmed and we don't know about it, then even if InuYasha does come back sooner than expected you could be in serious danger," Sango stated.

"I'll take the risk... See you guys in three days!" Kaede said as she sprinted away.

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	11. Back to Basics

It had been two days since the kidnapping and return of young Kaede, and everyone was beginning to stay at attention about the girl's whereabouts. She was showing signs of her active demon side being fully healed and was going off on her own for moments at a time, which of course, brought everyone's attention to it. Sango's wounds were healing, but since she was a human, she would have to stay away from battles for a few more days. And now it was time to for Kagome and InuYasha to make a trip to Kagome's present time. They had discussed how it was that they were going to announce the soon arrival of the much younger Kaede to Kagome's grandfather, mother and brother. They all gathered at the well to say their goodbyes for the next few days.

"Stay here with Miroku and Sango, Kaede. Kagome and I are going to be gone for a few days while we straighten everything out with her family, and I don't want to come back here and hear about how you got yourself killed while we were gone!" InuYasha scolded.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like to come with us Kaede? It might be easier for them to accept this whole thing if they meet you before you're born!" Kagome said in a nervous fit.

"Oh no no no! It'll be better this way trust me! It'll work out better than you think it will," Kaede replied with her hands up in front of her.

"Don't worry about a thing here you two, just take your time. Things like this will always require more time so just relax," Miroku stated.

InuYasha picked up Kagome and said, "We'll be back in three days!" and then they were off.

"So, what's the plan now, Kaede?" Sango asked.

"Well, I'm in need of some serious training," she replied.

"Well then, we should start on that today when we -" Miroku was about to comment on before he was interrupted.

"No no, there's no _we_ involved. I need to train on my own, that way I get everything in that I can."

"But Kaede, you heard InuYasha, you can't leave here or he'll get really angry!" Shippo tried to reason with the girl.

"Well that's why I would trust you guys not to tell him that I've gone off alone," Kaede replied sarcastically.

"Shippo's right Kaede, InuYasha could come back sooner than Kagome and then you'd be caught. As well as the fact that it's too dangerous to be out on your own," Miroku commented.

"I told you before, monk, I'm healed. I'm a demon, not a human. I've got my entire demon working in full force, so I can take care of myself. If InuYasha comes back early just tell him the truth, I don't care. But I need this time to spend on my own, regain some sense of things," Kaede replied.

"It's too dangerous Kaede! If you're harmed and we don't know about it, then even if InuYasha does come back sooner than expected you could be in serious danger," Sango stated.

"I'll take the risk... See you guys in three days!" Kaede said as she sprinted away.

"Do you think it's wise for her to be going out alone like that?" Sango asked the monk.

"She seemed quite confident in her abilities to take care of herself. Let's just hope InuYasha doesn't find out about it. Otherwise I don't think that Kaede will be the only one in danger," Miroku said nervously.

----------------------------------

Kaede stopped her running at a small clearing. She looked around slowly, listening in on every sound around her. The wind blew strongly and suddenly Kaede just threw herself on the ground.

"Ahhh! Soft grass, cool winds! No one around yelling at me to stop moving! Just a couple of days of me and nature! I'll never get over the outdoors!" Kaede reveled in the peace and quiet of the outdoors.

Her love only lasted for a few moments when she realized that it was time to get to work. With her Tetsusaiga at her side, she focused on a nearby object and began her training.

-----------------------------------

"So what now, Miroku? Kagome and InuYasha are gone, and Kaede's out on her own too, so what do _we_ do?" Shippo asked.

"The only thing we _can_ do, I'm afraid... We wait. InuYasha said that he would be back in three days, and I have no doubt that he'll keep his word." Miroku replied leaning against Kaede's hut with his eyes closed.

"Where did Sango go off to then?" the fox child asked.

Miroku opened his eyes and looked around.

"Good question. Perhaps I should go and look for her myself," Miroku replied as he stood up.

--------------------------------------

Kagome's grandfather's eyes were wider than two moons. He wasn't really sure that he had heard what he was just told. Sota was the same way, but Kagome's mother had more of a worried expression on her face.

"So... What does this mean for you Kagome?" her mother asked her.

"Well, I think we've decided that I'll still go back and forth to the past until I'm unable to keep up with them anymore. After that, I'll deliver here in the present," Kagome said in a comforting tone.

"Demon! I knew that you would be nothing but trouble! And now Kagome is... but... You will go back to your time and leave this family alone!" The grandfather yelled.

Everyone ignored the old man, as per usual.

"Does that mean I'm going to be an uncle Kagome?!" Sota asked in an excited tone.

"Yes, Sota, it means that you're an uncle, mom's a grandma and grandpa is a great grandpa," Kagome tried to sound less like she was anxious.

"Kagome, because you've already made up your mind about all of this, then let me make one thing clear. If you're planning on going through with this, then I want you and InuYasha to at least be married," Kagome's mom pleaded.

InuYasha looked to Kagome's mom and said, "By demon rules, we were already "married" the moment that we conceived the child. Dog demons are loyal, and wouldn't leave their mates for anything."

_"Mates? I've never thought about it that way..."_ Kagome thought silently.

"Then please, marry by human standards. That's all that I want," Kagome's mother pleaded again.

"Well, we told the others that we would be back in three days. I guess if we got married before then, then we'd be okay," Kagome thought aloud.

"I can gather up everything we need! Just leave it to me, okay?" Her mother said happily.

"What do you think, InuYasha?" Kagome asked.

"Just as long as we get back to the past in time, I'm fine with whatever..." InuYasha said in a not so homely tone of voice.

"Good! Just give me two days to make all the preparations that we need and you'll be back on your quest, I promise!" Kagome's mom said in a relieved tone of voice.

Kagome and InuYasha walked outside and sat under the tree of ages.

"Kaede was right, that went a lot easier than I expected it to," Kagome commented.

"Well she's lived in the future, we probably told her about it," InuYasha replied.

"You know? This just gets stranger and stranger every day. I mean, our daughter from the future came to us to try to save us in order to keep us from dying, and right now we're making the memories that she already remembers us talking about... It's just wearing me out," Kagome said wearily, leaning up against InuYasha for comfort.

"Well, hopefully, we'll do it right this time, and our daughter won't have to die..." he said almost sadly.

"What do you think she's doing right now?" Kagome asked.

"Well, knowing you and me, she's probably doing something that she's not supposed to be doing, like going off alone," InuYasha replied in the "I already know how I'm going to kick her butt when I get back" tone of voice.

"That's what I was afraid of..." Kagome replied.

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Kaede jumped back down the ground after having swung her sword. She was out of breath, but she had finally destroyed the rabbit demon that had attacked her out of nowhere. Her clothes were a bit torn, and she had a few scratches, but she was hardly worse for the ware. Scratches were going to heal within a few hours and no one would have known anything else.

"Well that was perfect training. But it was strange. That rabbit demon was more different than any other that I've ever seen. Someone was manipulating it. Although there was no jewel shard involved, so I'm not sure that it could have been Naraku. Still, I'd feel a lot better if I knew what was going on."

Kaede put her sword away and decided that it was time to have lunch. She found a river and built a small fire. As soon as the fire burned hot, she jumped into the river and waited for a nice, big fish to swim by. As soon as she saw the perfect fish she grabbed it and smiled for the victory of her catch.

"That was a great lunch! I should get back to my training though," Kaede said as she stood up and stretched her muscles.

"Who the hell are you?" A voice asked.

Kaede turned quickly to see three wolf demons standing on the other side of the river.

"Well that all depends, who wants to know?" She asked in a taunting tone.

"Don't get cute with me! You smell like someone I know, and because I've never seen you before, I'd like to know why!" The middle wolf yelled, getting frustrated.

"Someone you know?" Kaede asked, now confused.

_"How does this demon know my parents?"_

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For the next chapter!

"Sango!" Miroku said happily as he came upon her and Kirara on a hill, not far from the well.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" he asked her.

She looked back to see him and said, "Just thinking I guess."

Miroku sat down next to her and looked up at the, now, reddish sunset.

"How do you think that Kagome's family is taking the news?" Miroku asked.

"Well, they haven't run back before the agreed time, so I imagine that it must not have gone all bad," Sango replied.

There was an awkward moment before Miroku asked, "How are you feeling?"

"...Better..." Sango said quietly.

"So what exactly is bothering you Sango?" Miroku finally asked.

"Well I... overheard you talking with Kaede the other night. I heard her say that we were to die not long after she was born. But she... she never said what happened to Kohaku..."

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	12. The Race is On!

Once again, I've decided that since I'm writing enough on the later chapters to give you guys another update! Thank you for all of the great reviews!

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"You smell like Kagome, and even of that mutt-faced demon! So who the hell are you?!" The male pressed on.

_"Oh yeah! I remember my parents telling me about this guy! I totally forgot about him!"_ Kaede thought to herself.

"You must be _Koga_!" Kaede asked with a grin.

Koga was taken back, "How the hell do you know who I am?!"

_"This will make a good running exercise!"_ Kaede thought happily.

"See you!" Kaede said as she sprinted off as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't! Come on guys!" Koga ordered at his traveling friends, Ginta and Hakaku, as he stormed off after the girl.

"Come back here!" Koga yelled.

_"Damn! He's even faster that I expected him to be!"_ Kaede thought as she saw him close in on her.

"Guess I'll just have to make this more interesting!" Kaede said as she picked up the pace and ran as fast as her legs allowed for.

Looking back, she saw that she was, indeed, gaining a good measured length from Koga.

"What's the matter?! Can't keep up with a mutt?!" Kaede teased as she started to hop up the side of a large, rocky cliff.

"Why you... Get back here!!" Koga's anger rose with every second that the girl had kept up a racing pace.

Kaede got over the top of the cliff and Koga raced over it just seconds after her and was caught off guard by the girl running at him and lunging with a back and forth of kicks and punches. Koga did his best to defend against any of the kicks and punches and tried to make a few of his own, only to be easily deflected by the girl.

"Come on Koga! I'm just a little girl! Can't you defend against someone like me?!" Kaede asked as she finally landed a punch and then sprinted off again.

"I'll get you!!!" Koga shouted at the top of his lungs as he, again, began to pursue the female.

Koga's anger grew so much in intensity that he actually started to run faster.

_"Damn! He's catching up with me and I don't think that I'll be able to get away!"_ Kaede thought franticly.

Kaede tried her best to avoid the boy's advancing pace but she knew that because he was so angry that she had just made it all worse.

Koga finally caught up with the girl and he landed a kick in the middle of her back which landed her face down on the ground.

"Didn't think that I would get you huh?! Well what do you think of that?!" Koga asked as he stomped on the girl's back.

Kaede started to realize that maybe it wasn't a good idea to taunt Koga like that.

In between stompings, Kaede managed to get out a message to the angry wolf demon, "I'm...Kagome's... And InuYasha's... kid!"

That stopped Koga in the middle of his beatings.

"What did you just say?!" Koga asked in a shocked tone.

Kaede quickly stood up and backed up away from Koga.

"I didn't stutter!" Kaede said angry.

At that moment, Ginta and Hakaku arrived on the scene.

"Impossible! How could you be Kagome's child?! You look just as old as she is!" Koga pointed out.

"Well then, you tell me! I smell like Kagome _and_ InuYasha, so tell me who I am then?!" Kaede asked as she caught her breath.

Koga took a good look at her as well as take in her scent. She had Kagome's black hair, but her eyes were bright amber-colored like the half breed's eyes. Her ears were shaped somewhat pointed, but if you first thought her to be a human you would never had known the difference, and her scent was strongly, that of Kagome's... And InuYasha's.

"Well there's only one way that you would be the kid of Kagome's and only if you were able to notice that one thing, would I start to believe you!" Koga said in an "I told you so" tone of voice.

Kaede grinned widely and said, "What? You mean you want me to tell you about your two jewel shards?"

"HUH?!" Koga and the other two looked at the girl in amazement.

"The two shards that you have in your legs! One in each leg, you're using them to enhance the strength, because you can't rely on your own wimpy strength!" Kaede taunted.

"How dare you!" Koga yelled.

_"She can sense my jewel shards! And she even taunted at me the same way as that mutt-faced InuYasha would!...What the hell is going on here?!"_ Koga thought to himself.

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"Sango!" Miroku said happily as he came upon her and Kirara on a hill, not far from the well.

"What are you doing out here by yourself?" he asked her.

She looked back to see him and said, "Just thinking I guess."

Miroku sat down next to her and looked up at the, now, reddish sunset.

"How do you think that Kagome's family is taking the news?" Miroku asked.

"Well, they haven't run back before the agreed time, so I imagine that it must not have gone all bad," Sango replied.

There was an awkward moment before Miroku asked, "How are you feeling?"

"...Better..." Sango said quietly.

"So what exactly is bothering you Sango?" Miroku finally asked.

"Well I... overheard you talking with Kaede the other night. I heard her say that we were to die not long after she was born. But she... she never said what happened to Kohaku..."

"Well, you said that you believe that he's no longer under Naraku's hold. So I imagine that he must have taken his chances to kill Naraku himself. But, who knows as to whether he met his own fate with Naraku as we might," Miroku stated.

Sango then realized that, she too, would meet a fate. And that it was finally setting in.

"What are we going to do Miroku?" Sango asked.

"I'm not sure. We still have some time to plan against this but it's like Kaede said. Since she's been here she's said a lot of things that may or may not change the future. Who knows? She may already have changed our own fates, including that of Kohaku's." Miroku tried to comfort the woman.

"I hope you're right about that... I hope you're right..." Sango said.

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Shippo walked into Kaede's hut, where the old woman was cooking. The demon child then sat down on the floor with an exhausted look about him.

"What's troubling you Shippo?" The old woman asked.

"I'm so bored! Everyone's gone! Miroku's looking for Sango and Kirara, Kagome and InuYasha are in Kagome's era, and no one knows where Kaede went off to. No one's here!" Shippo stated sadly.

"Well, Sango and Miroku should be back soon after sunrise, and InuYasha, Kagome and Kaede should be back before the end of three days. So don't worry, they'll be back sooner than you believe.

Shippo sighed and said, "I hope so!"

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For the Next Chapter!

"What is it that you plan to do to keep protecting Kagome as the year's progress? Do have any savings? Do you have a house?"

"What are you talking about?" InuYasha was confused.

The old man sighed and said, "That means that I'll be the one to take care of all of this. Her mother and I will take care of her and the child and what will you do?"

InuYasha didn't think about all of this.

"Well, I thought that we would spend most of our time in the past, we really don't need to worry about schooling and "tests" like Kagome had to worry about."

"You fool! What will happen when it's time for the child to be born? Where do you think that Kagome will go? A hospital! Expenses of that nature are quite high!"

"Well... I could find a way to make the money! I'm sure of it!" InuYasha became confident.

"And where will you raise the child?" The old man pressed on.

"What do you mean? In the past, of course!" InuYasha replied with ease.

"In the past? With demons lurking around every corner? With all of the dangers that you've already put my grand-daughter through, you would be willing to put the same dangers upon my great grandchild, at such a young age, as well?" The old man finally blurted it out.

InuYasha was completely knocked off of his high horse. He didn't even think about the dangers of the past.

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	13. Worried InuYasha and Koga's mistrust

Okay everyone! Here's my Friday update! Thank you for your continuing support on my first story! Every review is appreciated greatly! I also wanted to add this to clarify something just in case anyone questioned it:

Disclaimer: I do not own the show "Inuyasha" nor do I claim any rights to the making of it. I write this story for my own personal writings, and do not plan to publish this as actual workings from the actual show. By reading this disclaimer you aknowledge that this story is nothing more than what it is, fanfiction. I am a fan, and therefore, I write fiction.

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"Who are you?! Tell me the truth!" Koga pressed on.

"I already told you who I am! Get it through your thick skull!" Kaede tried to reason with the boy.

"How could you possibly be the child of Kagome?! Admit it! Are you some sort of Incarnate of Naraku's?!" he yelled.

"If I was an Incarnate of Naraku's I would have the scent of Naraku! Haven't you figured that out yet?!" Kaede reasoned.

At this point Kaede had put herself in a bind. Koga wasn't going to just let this go, and there was a major possibility that he would start a battle with her if he didn't believe what she was telling him.

"Listen, I've had just about enough of this, you're wearing me out! So I'm just going to move along now, and I suggest that you do the same!" Kaede said as she turned towards the water of another part of the river and sprinted away.

Not far from where she had been, Kaede turned to see that Koga was, once again, on her tail. She knew that he wasn't just going to wave her off, but she was hoping that this didn't turn into anything that could get her into trouble.

Kaede jumped down from the high cliff and jumped from ledge to ledge on the way down. Koga followed her easily as well.

"This is getting ridiculous! I got to lose this guy! Maybe instead of trying to rid myself of him, I should try to kill him with kindness..." Kaede thought.

She finally arrived where she had made a fire earlier. The fire was still going, but only a small flame. She stopped at the fire and sat down.

"Giving up?!" Koga asked as he arrived as well.

"I'm not giving anything. I just decided that I was tired and if you decided that you wanted to, you could sit with me by the fire."

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It was now the early morning hours of the second day in Kagome's time, and InuYasha was up and about before anyone else... Well, almost anyone else.

The demon opened the door up to the kitchen and saw Kagome's grandfather sitting at the table drinking a cup of hot tea.

"Uh... Morning..." InuYasha said a bit nervous.

"Sit down, boy," The old man ordered.

InuYasha sat down at the table and gazed across it at the man.

"Young man, when you started your quest, I had to do many things to ensure that it would be successful. I called in for Kagome several times for school with fake illnesses so that she could have a valid reason for missing school, and I would prepare sutras and charms to cleanse her of any demon spirits that may have followed her back to this time period."

_"A whole hell of a lot of good that did!"_ InuYasha chuckled to himself as the old man continued.

"What is it that you plan to do to keep protecting Kagome as the year's progress? Do have any savings? Do you have a house?"

"What are you talking about?" InuYasha was confused.

The old man sighed and said, "That means that I'll be the one to take care of all of this. Her mother and I will take care of her and the child and what will you do?"

InuYasha didn't think about all of this.

"Well, I thought that we would spend most of our time in the past, we really don't need to worry about schooling and "tests" like Kagome had to worry about."

"You fool! What will happen when it's time for the child to be born? Where do you think that Kagome will go? A hospital! Expenses of that nature are quite high!"

"Well... I could find a way to make the money! I'm sure of it!" InuYasha became confident.

"And where will you raise the child?" The old man pressed on.

"What do you mean? In the past, of course!" InuYasha replied with ease.

"In the past? With demons lurking around every corner? With all of the dangers that you've already put my grand-daughter through, you would be willing to put the same dangers upon my great grandchild, at such a young age, as well?" The old man finally blurted it out.

InuYasha was completely knocked off of his high horse. He didn't even think about the dangers of the past.

_"If she stays in the past as a child, she could... she could really be killed... And all of the work that we've made would have been for nothing... But what do I do about it? Wait! There's only one person who can answer these questions!"_ InuYasha thought frantically.

"Good morning everyone," Kagome said as she opened the door to the dining room.

InuYasha and Kagome's grandfather turned to the girl with frowns and they both mumbled their good mornings to her.

Kagome looked at the two and asked, "What's going on?"

The old man looked away but InuYasha stood up and walked to the girl putting his arms around her and rubbing her back.

"Listen, Kagome... I have to go back to the past for a little while, okay?" he informed the girl as though he had something major on his mind.

"The past? But we don't have to go back until tomorrow night! What could you possibly need from the past that you can't wait for?" Kagome asked, beginning to get a little upset.

"I have to...check on someone, and talk to them..." InuYasha informed her in order to keep her grandfather from figuring out who it was that he was talking about.

Kagome took InuYasha into the hallway and closed the doors to the dining room for a little privacy.

"InuYasha, "she began slowly, "I'm worried about her too. I'm worried about what's happening to our daughter but Miroku, Sango, Shippo and old Kaede are taking care of her. As well as the fact that we made her promise to stay in the village, so just trust her, okay?" Kagome tried to reason with the boy.

"It's not about that... Kagome I need some answers to some questions about... about how we took care of her..." InuYasha looked away sadly.

"InuYasha... What's this about?" Kagome asked quietly and comforting.

InuYasha just couldn't look her in the eyes. He wanted to tell her, but he didn't want to worry her the way he was worried.

"I just... I have to go... Please understand, Kagome..." InuYasha said quietly.

Kagome became that much more aggravated and then her voice was raised as she said, "You can't just leave! I'm worried too, but you have to let it go until tomorrow night, okay?!"

"Of course he can't just leave!" Kagomes' mom's voice rang in and the two turned and looked at the woman with confused looks on their faces.

"The uniform fitters are here, and InuYasha has to be fitted for a formal kimono!" Kagome's mom said happily as she opened the door and two men walked in with smiles on their faces.

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Miroku, Sango, Shippo, Kirara and old Kaede were finishing a small breakfast in old Kaede's hut.

"Do you think Kaede will be back before InuYasha and Kagome arrive tomorrow night?" Shippo asked.

"I'm not sure. She said that she would be here in time for their arrival, but we haven't heard or seen anything of her since she left. I thought that perhaps she would at least return for shelter to sleep or a meal or two," Miroku replied.

"Yes, I'm worried as well. We haven't even heard of rumors about her whereabouts from other villages. Maybe we should go looking for her?" Sango asked.

"I doubt that we would do much good. If we were to find her, and she was not harmed, our efforts would most likely be wasted. She would probably have the intentions of continuing her training alone and we wouldn't be able to convince her to come back to the village with us," Miroku explained with his arms crossed.

"The girl seems to have inherited her ways of thinking from InuYasha," old Kaede commented.

"Yes, but her passion for life comes from Kagome. Remember, she is doing this to restore the safety of the future, as well as ourselves and her family. Her efforts are not just for greed, she really does plan to destroy Naraku to benefit everyone in the future. As well as the fact that she may actually be safer here in the past, than she was in her own time, where she lived in hiding from Naraku for ten years of her life," Miroku replied again.

"Come to think of it, she really is safer here in the past on her own. She probably had to battle more in her own time than she would have to do here!" Sango thought aloud.

"Yeah! The demons here are probably all not as powerful here as they are there!" Shippo realized.

"Yes, I imagine that the demons that exist in Kaede's time are manipulated by Naraku to be more powerful so that he can command a formidable army," Old Kaede commented.

"Do you think that Kaede will stay here once Naraku has been defeated?" Shippo asked sadly.

Everyone just sort of looked around at each other before Miroku said, "Once Naraku is defeated, I doubt that Kaede will want to stay in the past, when she could be back into the future and see if life there has changed."

Everyone was quiet for a moment before old Kaede said, "Even so, we'll see her again, once she is born and grows into the girl that we know now. So do not worry."

Sango looked around the hut and then asked, "Did anyone see where Kirara went off to?"

They all looked around and Miroku said, "I thought she was right here next to me just a few seconds ago... Wait a minute, Where's Shippo?"

"I wonder where they could have gone off to?" Sango asked.

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It was, now, about midday in the present time, and Kagome and InuYasha were out shopping with Kagome's mom, and were currently eating lunch at a fast food restaurant inside the mall.

"So what have you planned up to this point mom?" Kagome asked.

"Well, if everything works out right, then the ceremony will take place tomorrow morning, giving you two plenty of time to get back to the past by the evening," her mom replied.

"Well don't overdue anything, we just want something small and private, that way it's just family," Kagome said thoughtfully.

"Don't worry, I've got everything taken care of. I just want you two to focus on what you'll need to do for the baby," her mom replied happily.

InuYasha scoffed and said, "Are we done yet? I'm ready to get out of this place!"

"Don't worry, InuYasha, we're basically done, all we have to do is get the rest of the food," Kagome said frustrated with the boy.

"Food? Like Ninja food?" InuYasha asked in an uplifted tone.

"No, InuYasha, ninja food isn't eaten at a wedding ceremony!" Kagome scolded.

After lunch, they had gone to the grocery store and were now seen walking out of the store. InuYasha was carrying several bags of food with a smile on his face, and Kagome was carrying an upset look on her face.

"I can't believe we're going to eat potato chips and ramen for the main course..." Kagome said with crossed arms.

"This ceremony thing is for us right? Well, we should eat what we like!" InuYasha said with a bright smile across his face.

Kagome's mom laughed and said, "InuYasha certainly does have an appetite for ramen!"

Kagome turned to her and said, "You have no idea..."

It was now getting close to the evening and the sun was nearly set. The sky was almost pitch black with a few shades of orange and red on the horizon. Kagome walked downstairs into the kitchen where her mom was making dinner.

"Have you seen InuYasha mom?" She asked.

"I thought I saw him walk around the shrine courtyards a little while ago dear," her mom replied.

"Thanks," Kagome said with a smile as she walked out of the house and looked around.

Kagome didn't see a sign of the boy so she walked around a little until she came to the old Tree of Ages. At the base of it, was InuYasha, leaning his back to the tree.

"There you are! We're getting ready to eat dinner, are you coming?" Kagome asked as she walked closer to him.

"Come over here and sit down Kagome," InuYasha said happily.

Kagome sat down next to InuYasha at the base of the tree and looked to the sky, where he was looking also.

"The stars are really shining tonight!" Kagome commented.

"Yeah, but it's like you said, there aren't as many here as there are in the past," InuYasha said quietly.

"Well don't worry, we'll be back in the past by this time tomorrow night and we can get on our way with the hunt for Naraku and the jewel shards," Kagome comforted the boy.

"You know Kagome? I've been thinking."

"About what?" Kagome asked, unsure of what to expect from the demon.

"Maybe you should stay here, I mean, since this whole baby thing has come up," InuYasha said firmly.

Kagome was taken back by this and said, "No way! I want to see Naraku dead just as much as you do! Plus you won't be able to sense the jewel shards without me!"

"I hate to say it like this, but Kaede can sense jewel shards too, remember? She can also shoot sacred arrows!" InuYasha pressed on.

"So that's it, is it?! You're going to throw me away, leave me here and forget about me so I'm not in the way?!" Kagome got angry.

"Of course not! I'm saying that we have someone who can shoot arrows and sense jewel shards so that you can stay here where it's safe and you can rest!" InuYasha said angrily back at the girl.

Kagome was once again taken back but she looked away and said, "I don't just want to abandon the quest for nearly a year InuYasha... We've come so close, and I want to be there to help out when we meet up with Naraku again! I'm going back to the past with you and that's final!"

InuYasha brought the girl close to him in a hug as he leaned them back against the tree.

"Just promise me that you'll come back here when you can't keep up with us anymore, okay?" he said quietly.

Kagome relaxed against the boy and lowered her eyes.

"Okay, I promise..." Kagome replied.

They both looked up at the stars, which seemed to shine even brighter than they did a moment ago.

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Kaede was sitting back against a tree in a small clearing with a campfire that was fiercely burning not far from the tree. Kaede looked up at the stars, which seemed to shine brighter than before.

"The stars sure are bright tonight! There are so many here, and so very little in my time... Maybe if the future is changed, the stars will be shown more in my time! Maybe anyway..."

Kaede couldn't help but feel that she wasn't alone. Not that anyone was there behind or near her you see, but that someone was there in spirit. And knowing that, Kaede was able to fall asleep soundly, for the first time in a long time.

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For the Next Chapter!

"Shippo? Kirara? What are you two doing here?" Kaede asked, quite surprised by their appearance.

"We were worried about you, and didn't know if you were going to make it back to the village in time, so Kirara and me went out to find you!" Shippo explained.

Kirara stanched herself for a fight with a low growl.

"What's _he_ doing here?!" Shippo asked in a scared tone of voice.

Kaede turned back to Sesshomaru and said, "Don't worry guys, he's just looking for the same answers that we are."

The girl turned to walk towards Shippo and Kirara when Sesshomaru said, "Tetsusaiga?"

Kaede's heart jumped as she realized that he recognized the weapon and turned back to look at him.

"You carry my father's sword with you? I thought that InuYasha was carrying it?" he asked.

"He... loaned it to me for a while... I'm trying to kill Naraku, just as you are..." she replied with a deep stare into Sesshomaru's eyes.

"Lord Sesshomaru! This may be the perfect opportunity to take back your father's sword! In the hands of a mere mortal, it would be like taking candy from a baby!" The imp chuckled as he spoke.

"I agree..." Sesshomaru stated as he lunged forward at the girl.

"Kaede! Watch out!" Shippo cried out.


	14. Kikyo and Sesshomaru Kaede's Encounters

Here's my Friday post! Thank you to all of the continuing readers of my story! I really appreciate all of your positive feedback! Enjoy this chapter!

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It was early morning on the other side of the well, and young Kaede slowly opened her eyes as the sun began to rise. There was a fair amount fog surrounding the nearby stream, and the sun's bright rays shot through it, making the fog look as though they were light and fluffy clouds rolling across the country side.

Kaede sat up slowly and stretched with a yawn. She looked around and saw the nearby stream and got up, walking to it's edges and kneeling down. She reached her hands down into the fast-paced stream and scooped up some fresh water, splashing it on her face and running it through her hair.

As soon as the girl was done with her clensing, she sat back down on the ground, closed her eyes, and looked up into the bright sunlight to warm her, now wet, face.

_"I can't believe that I managed to scare Koga away that easily. I mean, I thought that the kindness thing would work, but I didn't expect him to run off as soon as I offered to sit down by the fire!"_ Kaede thought to herself happily as she remembered what had happened the previous night.

_"What the hell is that supposed to mean?!" Koga asked confused. _

"Listen, I'm tired of running,and I'm tired of trying to get the answers through your thick skull, so sit down and we'll talk this out!" Kaede reasoned.

"Ummm.. That's okay, I'll leave... but don't worry, I'll be looking for Kagome and if she doesn't know who you are, I swear I'll come back and find you!" Koga said in a rude tone of voice as he took off quickly and disappeared into the forest, Ginta and Hakaku following him.

Kaede smiled and looked back to the ground, openening her brightly colored eyes. She slowly stood back up and stretched a long, hard stretch through her body, then she gathered up her sword and her bow and quiver and turned towards a mountainous region, but not before her smile quickly dimished from her face.

"Demon!" A priestess stood acrossed the river from Kaede, aiming an arrow directly at Kaede's heart.

"Demon! I sense a strong demon aura from you! Who are you?!" The woman demanded.

Kaede didn't know why, but this woman seemed familiar to her.

"I asked you a question! Or do you dare defy me and wish to die by my hands?!" The woman became more fierce.

"My name is Kaede... And you are correct... I am, in fact, a demon... A dog demon to be precise," Kaede answered in order to get more time to think.

The priestess looked up from her aim on the girl with a shocked expression.

"You said... your name is Kaede?" The woman asked, "And... And you're a dog demon as well?"

Kaede didn't move an inch. She was sure that if she did, then the priestess would not slack on her bow skills, and she would surely shoot without missing her aim. And Kaede wasn't sure if she was fast enough to evade the arrow.

"Yes... That's right..." Kaede replied.

"I thought that I also sensed spiritual powers from you... Are you a priestess as well then?" The woman asked a little softer than she did before.

"Somewhat... I haven't been completely trained in the ways of a priestess my entire life, but I learned a good amount of the stuff," Kaede said easily.

There was a long pause before Kaede finally asked, "And who might you be, if you don't mind my asking?"

She could feel the strong spiritual powers of this woman, but she could not hear a heart beating, and she couldn't smell a human. The only thing she could smell were bones and soil...

_"It couldn't be... could it?"_ Kaede thought quickly.

The woman lowered her bow, which relieved Kaede greatly.

"Nevermind who I am... Just think of me as someone who is trying to rid the world demons who only wish to posess sacred jewel shards, one of which, you are carrying with you!" The woman revealed.

_"It really is her... It's Kikyou! I just need to try to convince her that I'm not an evil demon!" _Kaede thought to herself.

"Yes, I do posess a shard of the jewel... And what of it? Are you going to kill me for it?" Kaede asked the woman.

Kikyou gave a half smile and said, "I don't know... Should I kill you? Are you going to give me a reason to kill you?"

"Well if I do say so myself, I don't believe that I've given you any reason to warrant killing me... You _are_ after the sacred jewel though, aren't you?" Kaede asked.

"I do not wish to posess that vile jewel, I wish it to be destroyed, but all of the pieces must come together first... That way the jewel can be used for good and it will disappear completely," Kikyou stated in a lowered tone.

"Interesting... We have the same goals... I, too, wish nothing more than the jewel to be destroyed for good." Kaede said honestly.

Kikyou gave a small laugh and said, "Why would a demon, such as yourself, want the jewel to be destroyed?!"

Kaede looked down at the stream and said, "The jewel has brought my family and I nothing but pain... My mother and father were killed, needlessly. And I want nothing more than for their deaths to be for a more noble cause. Don't forget, too, that I am a priestess as well, and I've had to clean up the messes that the jewel has left behind. Some messes, though, can't be cleaned... You should know this as well."

The wind blew, and both Kaede and Kikyou did nothing but stare each other in the eyes for a moment.

Kikyou then gave another half smile and put her bow away.

"I do not believe that you are a threat to humans, but be on your guard, demon... The wounds that you have suffered because of the jewel will remain, and revenge will not always solve all of your problems..." Kikyou said as she and her Shikigami disappeared into the forest.

Kaede couldn't have ever known both relief and hatred at the same time like she knew now.

"So... so far I've met my mother's other suiter, and my father's ex-lover... I really, for some reason, don't want to know what could possibly happen next..."

-----------------------------------------------------------

It was the morning of the third day and the ceremonies for Kagome and InuYasha were just moments away from beginning.

"What's the matter dear?" Kagome's mom asked her as she finished the last fixes to Kagome's kimono dress.

Kagome was constantly adjusting the sleeves of the dress. It was a white kimono with small cherry blossom prints all over.

"Just nervous I guess... I mean, I realize the situation I'm in but is this big ceremony really needed?"

"Well you didn't give me much of a chance to plan things well in advance, but I wanted you to have something to remember," Kagome's mom turned away from her and seemed to stare blankly into a wall.

Kagome turned to see her mother in the blank stare and said, "I'm sorry things went this way mom... I didn't expect all of this to happen. And I'm more sorry that you had to go through so much in so little time to plan things around my visits to the past. It's not fair to you."

Kagome's mom turned to her with a smile and said, "It's okay dear! I'm just glad that you gave me time until the baby was born instead of waiting. And I'm glad that you and InuYasha have decided to stay together."

The two women stared at each other with smiles on their faces.

"Oh! We better get going! We don't want to be late!" Kagome's mother insisted on her daughter as she hurried her out of the room.

InuYasha, Sota, and Kagome's grandfather were standing at the make-shift alter.

"Why do I have to wear this stupid outfit?!" InuYasha tugged at the formal kimono and tried his best to adjust it to make it more comfortable.

"Stop that! Just leave it alone and the sooner this is over with the better!" The old man scolded the dog demon.

Sota was nearly wiggling with excitement. His brown eyes were big and bright and his smile was wide. InuYasha was nearly annoyed at this.

"Hey kid, what's your deal? Can't you stay still?" InuYasha asked annoyed.

"I'm just so excited! After this, you'll officially be my brother!" Sota said happily.

InuYasha didn't even think about it that way and he said, "You know, I have an older brother too..."

Sota's eyes widened and he asked, "You do? So I'll have _two_ big brothers?!"

InuYasha looked away for a moment and answered, "Well no, you'll probably never see my brother, and if you don't then you'll be better off... But maybe I can be a better big brother to you, than my older brother was to me."

Sota's smile widened even more as he said, "You really think so?!"

InuYasha smiled and put his hand on Sota's head saying, "Yeah... really."

The music of a nearby keyboard player started and Kagome's grandfather batted at InuYasha and said, "It's starting! Stand up straight now, and don't make a fool out of yourself!"

InuYasha could have strangled the old man right then and there, but something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned and saw Kagome, in her twinkling bright kimono. To InuYasha, she was the only one there with him. Her bright brown eyes lit up into his amber ones. She slowly walked down the aisle and nothing there seemed to be able to break the hold that the two had on each other's stares.

Kagome finally made it to the alter where InuYasha was and she said, "Hey."

InuYasha smiled and finally managed to say, "H-Hey yourself."

The music stopped and the ceremonies proceeded.

-------------------------------------------------------

It was now midday and Kaede had just finished up some extra training when she sheathed her Tetsusaiga and sat down on the ground to catch her breath.

"Well, I guess I better be going. I've gone out pretty far from the village but hopefully I can make it back before mom and dad do."

"Who are you?" A soft but low-toned voice suddenly broke Kaede out of her relaxed state.

Kaede stood up quickly and turned to see who it was with her hand on the sheath of her sword.

"I asked you a question. Who are you?" The man's cold voice asked a little louder this time.

Kaede knew the face of this man right away. There was no question in her mind about who this was.

"Sesshomaru!" She said in an almost relieved tone of voice.

Sesshomaru's eyes narrowed at the girl.

Kaede noticed the look on her uncle's face and she remembered where she was.

"I-I'm no one of interest really," she lied.

At that moment Jaken, Rin and Ayoune showed up from behind Sesshomaru and they all stopped at the sight of this strange woman in front of them.

"Why is it that when I caught the scent of my lowly brother, I find a woman in his place? Are you a trap from Naraku?" Sesshomaru asked beginning to flex his poison claws.

"If I was a trap from Naraku, don't you think that you would _smell_ Naraku?" Kaede asked.

"Perhaps Naraku is using the scent of my brother in order to trick me for some reason. If that is the case then I shall kill you."

Kaede knew that she was strong, but she still was not as strong as her full demon uncle, and if he decided to attack her she would be at a great disadvantage.

Just before Sesshomaru lunged forward Rin stepped forward and said happily, "Lord Sesshomaru! She looks like Kagome! Except her eyes are different!"

Rin ran forward to Kaede and looked straight up at her.

"You silly child, get back here!" Jaken scolded the girl.

Sesshomaru just stood for a moment and watched for the movements of the older girl to see if she was going to be a threat to his Rin. The little girl pulled the older woman down to her eye level by her arm and looked her over.

"Lord Sesshomaru! She has pretty eyes like you, but she has black hair like Kagome! Except for those bright streaks."

"Come back here Rin!" Jaken yelled again.

"Yes Master Jaken!" Rin said as she waved to Kaede and skipped back to the side of Sesshomaru.

"You... I thought I could smell InuYasha's human, Kagome too. And Rin seems to think that you look something like her... Who are you?" Sesshomaru asked again.

"...My name is Kaede..." the girl said unhappily.

"Kaede? I believe I know of someone by that name... but who?"

"Kaede!" The voice of a small child pierced through the conversation between Sesshomaru and Kaede.

They all looked to the air and saw a fox demon child riding atop a cat demon, who then landed on the ground right by Kaede.

"So, you are also a part of the group of InuYasha's friends?" The full demon asked with a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Shippo? Kirara? What are you two doing here?" Kaede asked, quite surprised by their appearance.

"We were worried about you, and didn't know if you were going to make it back to the village in time, so Kirara and me went out to find you!" Shippo explained.

Kirara stanched herself for a fight with a low growl.

"What's _he_ doing here?!" Shippo asked in a scared tone of voice.

Kaede turned back to Sesshomaru and said, "Don't worry guys, he's just looking for the same answers that we are."

The girl turned to walk towards Shippo and Kirara when Sesshomaru said, "Tetsusaiga?"

Kaede's heart jumped as she realized that he recognized the weapon and turned back to look at him.

"You carry my father's sword with you? I thought that InuYasha was carrying it?" he asked.

"He... loaned it to me for a while... I'm trying to kill Naraku, just as you are..." she replied with a deep stare into Sesshomaru's eyes.

"Lord Sesshomaru! This may be the perfect opportunity to take back your father's sword! In the hands of a mere mortal, it would be like taking candy from a baby!" The imp chuckled as he spoke.

"I agree..." Sesshomaru stated as he lunged forward at the girl.

"Kaede! Watch out!" Shippo cried out.

Kaede easily jumped out of the way before the other demon even came close to her. The full blooded demon then raised his poison claws at the girl and struck at her but she smiled and moved before he managed to land a single hit upon her.

_"How is she avoiding my attacks? It's almost as if she already knows all of my movements!"_ Sesshomaru thought angrily.

The man lunged forward at the girl, unsheathing his Tokijin and taking a swing at her with it.

"Kaede!" Shippo shouted, now extremely panicked.

Just before Sesshomaru managed to slice the girl with his sword, she also unsheathed her Tetsusaiga and she blocked the attack, unfortunately without ease of any sorts. All of her strength went into deflecting his blow to her and she was almost unable to keep from completely failing the deflection.

"You are no novice I see!" Sesshomaru admitted.

Kaede didn't let off of her grip on the sword as she looked into Sesshomaru's eyes.

"You're not too bad yourself, old man!" the girl said through her teeth with a smile.

Sesshomaru scoffed and then jumped back just before Kaede's strength would have failed.

"He... He stopped?" Shippo asked.

"You are a formidable demon, but do not expect me to let you off this easily the next time we meet..." The dog demon disappeared into the forest along with the young Rin and the angry Jaken.

Kaede sighed and sheathed her weapon. She turned and walked back towards Kirara and Shippo.

"Are you all right Kaede?" Shippo asked amazed that the girl had managed to stave off the full demon's attack.

"Fine, of course! Why do you ask?" Kaede said cheerfully as she scratched behind Kirara's ears.

"You just fought off InuYasha's older brother! And he's a -"

"Full demon... Yeah, I know.." Kaede said as she climbed onto Kirara's back.

"Well, shouldn't we be going then?" Kaede asked the other two.

Kirara took off from the ground and into the sky, heading back towards the village.

"Kaede, how did you manage to escape Sesshomaru so easily? Even InuYasha has trouble avoiding his attacks!" Shippo asked in an eager tone.

Kaede sighed and then asked, "Shippo, if I told you something, do you think you could remember well not to tell the others?"

The child nodded his head slowly.

Kaede looked forward away from the eyes of the fox demon and said, "After mom and dad died, my uncle Sota, Kagome's brother, tried his best to teach me how to fight, but he was never very good at it. After I had learned what little I could from him, I was only about twelve years old when I came upon a demon that was far superior in strength to my own powers. Even with the Tetsusaiga as my weapon, I was beaten, nearly to death by the demon. It was about to finish me off when a much stronger demon came out and defended me. He killed the demon that had nearly killed me."

"Who was the demon that saved you?" Shippo asked.

"It was my uncle... Uncle Sesshomaru..."

"Sesshomaru saved you?!" The child almost couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"Yes, he could smell my blood and when he investigated what had happened he came upon me. After he saved me, he helped Sota nurse me back to health, and then said -"

_"You will not survive unless you are trained properly... And as you are now, you will be destroyed by even the weakest demons. My brother may have been killed by Naraku, but I suppose there's no reason why you should have to die as well... So from this day forward, your training will come from myself only." _

"- And so for eight years after that, he put me through the most brutal training lessons. He battled with me every day, trained me to hunt like a real demon, about how to use my senses like a wild demon would. He taught me things that I never thought I could learn. Even when I was stubborn he would beat the lessons into me until I did as I was supposed to do. My Uncle Sota was concerned for my well-being over the training and the lessons that Sesshomaru was giving me, but he also knew that it was for the best that I did it. He knew that since I was a demon, and nearly full blooded demon, that I needed to learn everything I could, even if it was in a bad manner of doing so."

Shippo was amazed at all of this, but was unsure of one thing.

"If you learned your fighting skills from Sesshomaru, then why didn't you tell InuYasha?" he asked.

"What do you think that he would have thought, or done, since he wasn't the one who had taught me how to use my demon instincts? He already feels like he's failed me in every aspect of my life because he and mom died when I was young, I couldn't tell him that the older brother that wants to kill him, and he wants to kill taught me everything I know now. I can't stand to see that look on his face when he learns this tidbit of information. It would break his heart!" Kaede said sadly.

"But wait a minute... If Sesshomaru taught you all of this, then why didn't he come with you back here?"

Kaede's eyes watered a little and she turned her head away from Shippo and said, "He was... killed as well... By Naraku... I tried to help but... he told me to run... He must not have had faith in my fighting skills and he told me to run! And like a coward, I did!... I had to be the one to tell Rin, at that point a full grown woman who had fallen deeply in love with Sesshomaru, and his faithful servant, Jaken... that I did not help him..."

"Hold on, if he had trained you for eight years after you were twelve, then that means..."

Kaede looked at the boy with volition and said, "Yes... Sesshomaru died just days before I left to travel here. It was just one more thing to push me over the edge... One more thing to give me a reason to be here and try and change everything."

Shippo was shocked, to say the least.

"He must have known that you still weren't strong enough to battle Naraku, and tried to protect you! You weren't a coward to run from Naraku himself! You had to live! And Sesshomaru knew that! Please don't be sad Kaede!" Shippo tried to reason and comfort the girl.

Kaede looked back to the fox child and said, "Thanks Shippo..."

-------------------------------------------------------

"Good Luck you two!" Kagome's mom waved InuYasha and Kagome off as they began entered the well.

"Bye mom! Don't worry! We'll be back sooner than you think!" Kagome waved back.

InuYasha loaded Kagome on his back, as he was also carrying her backpack, which was full of foods and candy from the ceremonies. The boy then leapt into the well and it glowed the normal blue glow, and they were gone.

Jumping out of the well in the past, Kagome noticed something.

"Where _is_ everyone? They're usually here waiting for us," she asked, looking around.

"Yeah, it's kind of weird that they're not here... We better hurry!" InuYasha said as he began to sprint towards the village.

Arriving at the village InuYasha stopped when he saw something. He saw villagers walking around and doing their normal daily chores and activities. The children were running around and playing, and the middle-aged men and women were working around the village completing tasks as they always did.

"So... Nothing seems to be wrong, but where's Miroku and Sango?" Kagome asked looking around.

InuYasha sprinted up to old Kaede's hut and let Kagome off of his back easily then opened the blanket to the hut and was half expecting no one to be there but was greeted by Miroku, Sango and old Kaede.

"InuYasha! You've returned!" Miroku said nervously.

"How was the trip?" Sango asked to buy time.

"Don't try to act like nothing's wrong, I _know_ something's going on, so just tell me what it is!" InuYasha could already sense the tension in his two friends.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked.

"InuYasha, I know you've been gone for a while but remember that we were here and took care of everything," Miroku tried to settle the boy.

"Where's Kaede?" he asked them as though he were a detective interrogating a criminal.

The three sitting in the hut were all silent. Kind of like one of those awkward silences where someone's about to give you bad news soon after. InuYasha turned quickly out of the hut and looked around frantically yelling for the girl.

"Kaede! Kaede, where are you?!" He started to bring the town's attention to himself and Kagome began to get worried.

"What is it already?!" Kaede yelled from behind the hut.

Kagome and InuYasha turned and saw Kaede, Shippo and Kirara walking out from behind the hut.

"Where were you?!" InuYasha asked loudly.

"Right here! Where else would we have been?" the young girl asked sarcastically.

Miroku and Sango walked out of the hut and were immensely relieved to see the girl along with Shippo and Kirara.

"As we were saying, InuYasha, we took care of everything and as you can see, everything is fine," Miroku commented.

InuYasha looked over Kaede as if he were looking for scratches and dents on a new car.

"What's your deal?" Kaede asked casually.

InuYasha stopped his inspection and said, "You mean to say that you stayed in the village?"

Kaede didn't like outright lying, but she knew that if she told the truth InuYasha would let her have it.

"Yeah, for the most part. Why? Was there some place that I was supposed to go?" She asked calmly.

InuYasha stared her down hard and then scoffed and walked back towards Kagome.

"So how did everything go with the family?" Miroku asked.

Kagome smiled and said, "It was just like Kaede said, it went better than expected!"

Kaede smiled and said, "Told you. You should really learn to trust me."

Old Kaede poked her head out of the hut and said, "If anyone is hungry, then I have made some dinner and you are all welcome to it."

"All right! Food!" Shippo cried out happily as he hopped into the hut.

Following Shippo was the rest of the group as they all piled in and settled for the night.

-------------------------------

For the Next Chapter!

It was still across a wide, open field and a large, fast paced stream. But after those obstacles was just a short walk up a steep mountainside to a large, gated village.

"Well, I don't sense any evil aura's... Do any of you?" Miroku asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Well what about you two? Do you sense any jewel shards?" InuYasha asked Kaede and Kagome.

"No, not at all, "Kagome replied.

Kaede just shook her head in reply.

"Perhaps the old priest was wrong then?" Miroku thought aloud.

"I don't know, maybe we should just check it out. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling when I just look at that place." Sango thought aloud.

"Yeah, let's go," InuYasha agreed.

The group walked across the wide field and as they neared the river Miroku and Sango stopped.

"There seems to be a strange fog around the village! Why didn't we notice this before?" Sango asked.

"I'm beginning to sense an ominous force!" Miroku said loudly


	15. Her Power

Here's my Friday post! Enjoy!

-----------------------------------

It was the day after InuYasha and Kagome had returned to the village from her time, as well as Kaede's return from her training. It was in the late morning hours and the group of now, seven, had been traveling for a couple of hours now.

"How long until the next village?" Shippo whined.

"Well that old priest did say that there was a village in the mountains of the direction that we were heading. But he told us to stay away from it because of the demonic aura's that have appeared there recently," Kagome wondered aloud.

"I wonder if the demonic aura's that he spoke of have anything to do with the jewel shards?" Miroku asked.

InuYasha scoffed and said, "Well we should probably at least take a look around there then, just to make sure we don't miss out on any shards."

Kagome looked back to Kaede who had been rather quiet since they had awoken that morning.

"Is something wrong Kaede?" she asked worried.

Kaede looked up at her and then away and said, "No, everything's fine..."

"Look there!" Sango pointed out suddenly, "A mountain village there!"

It was still across a wide, open field and a large, fast paced stream. But after those obstacles was just a short walk up a steep mountainside to a large, gated village.

"Well, I don't sense any evil aura's... Do any of you?" Miroku asked.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Well what about you two? Do you sense any jewel shards?" InuYasha asked Kaede and Kagome.

"No, not at all, "Kagome replied.

Kaede just shook her head in reply.

"Perhaps the old priest was wrong then?" Miroku thought aloud.

"I don't know, maybe we should just check it out. I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling when I just look at that place." Sango thought aloud.

"Yeah, let's go," InuYasha agreed.

The group walked across the wide field and as they neared the river Miroku and Sango stopped.

"There seems to be a strange fog around the village! Why didn't we notice this before?" Sango asked.

"I'm beginning to sense an ominous force!" Miroku said loudly.

"Yeah! I can also sense a small jewel fragment!" Kagome suddenly realized.

"Well then it's a good thing we decided to stop in then!" InuYasha said with a grin.

The group began a faster pace towards the town, InuYasha was carrying Kagome on his back running, Kaede was running on her own, and the other three were riding on Kirara. They easily ran the rest of the way across the field and up the side of the mountain until they reached the gate of the village. The gate were tall, solid oak doors, and they were cracked open just enough for people to get in and out of.

"I smell blood!" Kaede shouted as she landed in front of the gates.

"Yeah, me too... Human blood..." InuYasha replied.

InuYasha let Kagome off of his back and then stepped into the village just as the others landed and jumped off of Kirara. As soon as InuYasha walked through the door he saw a thick fog and nothing but random droplets of blood... but no one was there...

"That's weird..." Kagome said as she walked in through the door, Kaede following.

"I can smell human blood, but no humans..." Kaede said quietly, as though she thought that she might wake the dead.

"Yeah... Where are all the bodies? Humans just don't disappear after they die!" InuYasha said sarcastically.

"Perhaps they were taken somewhere else after they were killed," Miroku suggested.

Kaede walked over to a nearby hut and opened the blanket that covered the entrance.

"Nothing in here either!" she yelled to the group.

"Something definitely took the bodies of these poor people..." Sango said sadly as she checked in another hut.

"It's strange... It's almost like the demonic aura is right on top of us, but I can't sense anything beyond that," Miroku said firmly.

"It's the same with the jewel shard, I can't sense exactly where it's at, but it's like it's all around us," Kagome added.

Kaede's eyes widened as soon as she realized what was going on.

"We've got to get out of this village, NOW!" she yelled frantically.

The group turned to her as if they weren't sure what it was that she was trying to say.

Before Kaede could get the group to get out of the village a high pitched voice sounded through the village.

"Look what we have here! More humans! And even some demons! What a feast this will be!" The voice sounded as if it was all around them.

"Damn!" Kaede yelled.

"Everyone into a hut! Hurry!" the girl motioned for everyone to go inside a hut which they did quickly.

"What's going on Kaede?!" InuYasha asked.

"It's a rare demon! It uses the water in the air as it's mode of transportation so it can make itself turn into a watery fog, it's one of the most dangerous demons that I had ever faced but... it was only a demon that I had known in my own era, not here..." Kaede explained.

"Well whatever it is, we've got to destroy it, and NOW!" InuYasha said as he put his hand on the hilt of his Tetsusaiga and ran out of the hut.

"You fool!" Kaede said as she ran after him, Miroku and Sango following.

"Whoever you are, _demon_, show yourself!" InuYasha shouted as he unsheathed the Tetsusaiga and looked around the courtyards of the village.

"Stop! Don't you get it?!" Kaede yelled at the boy as she approached with Miroku and Sango in tow.

InuYasha turned to Kaede with a confused look on his face but the fog began to swirl around them. It moved in all directions around them until it flew up into the air and twirled around in circles until the fog transformed into a human form. The demon had bright silver eyes and black hair, wearing a large kimono robe around it.

"What do you plan to do with that sword boy? Run me through?!" The demon cast an evil stare onto the group.

"Are you the one that killed everyone in this village?!" InuYasha asked angrily.

"Well what did you expect me to do? I have to live too!" The demon chuckled.

"What?!" InuYasha was even more confused than he was a moment ago and he looked to Kaede for answers.

"This demon uses the remnants of bodies, any kind of moisture, and grinds their leftovers into it's own body, thereby increasing it's mass in fog form!" Kaede explained while keeping a sharp eye on the fog demon.

"It uses human bodies to absorb into it's own being?" Miroku asked frantically.

InuYasha turned to the demon as it smiled evilly at them.

"Yes, and now, I'll absorb all of you into me as well!" The demon yelled as it lunged forward at the group.

InuYasha lunged forward at the demon as well and swung the Tetsusaiga using the wind scar.

"Damn! He won't listen will he?!" Kaede was upset at InuYasha's attempt to kill the demon without listening to her.

"WIND SCAR!" InuYasha yelled as the Tetsusaiga let out a crashing wave of wind and went through the fog demon as though it had destroyed it.

InuYasha landed on the ground and scoffed saying, "What were you saying about being foolish?!"

"Idiot! The demon is made out of moisture! Do you think that the sword actually cut through him?!" Kaede lashed back.

InuYasha then realized that his victory was short-lived as he saw the fog reform not far from him.

"Fool! Did you believe that you had actually killed me?! You have only prolonged your, soon to come to an end, life!" The demon spat at InuYasha as he once again lunged forward towards the boy.

InuYasha didn't have time to react and was knocked down to the ground, the Tetsusaiga knocked out of his hands. The demon used it's force to lift InuYasha off of the ground, the demon boy trying to fight against it the best he could. Kaede leapt forward and the fog demon noticed her sword as well.

"Let's see what you can do without this!" The demon said as it managed to throw Kaede's sword away from her.

_"This is bad... I can feel it already taking over me, and if it does... then that means..."_ Kaede thought to herself.

Miroku and Sango rode on Kirara, Sango swung her Hiraikotsu, and Miroku threw sutras at the demon. Unfortunately it was able to deflect the sutras and stop the Hiraikotsu in it's place. As it did this, it also grabbed the three and held them in place in the air too.

"No!" Kagome shouted as she exited the hut and saw the sight.

Shippo stood behind Kagome's leg, looking around her scared stiff.

"What do we do?!" Shippo asked.

Kagome ran back a few feet where she had dropped her bow and quiver of arrows and picked them up.

"We do everything we can!" Kagome yelled as she shot an arrow at the demon.

"You wretch!" The demon shouted in anger as the arrow pierced through it's chest, causing it some minor damage.

"It didn't work!" Shippo shouted even more scared than before.

"Kagome! Go back to the shelter and stay away!" Kaede yelled.

Kagome didn't want to leave the scene, but she saw InuYasha's face looking down at her from the demon's grip. She knew that he wanted her away from the battle as well.

"Right! Be careful!" Kagome yelled as she picked up Shippo and hid in the small hut.

Kaede turned back towards the demon and her amber eyes flashed brightly.

"Put them down, and you and I will battle!" She growled.

"Ha! Do you think that a mere dog demon would scare me away?! You fool! You and the other two should be glad that I haven't killed you yet and run for your lives!"

Kaede's growl became more forceful and she stepped forward into the fog.

"Let them go... I'll only tell you this last time..." Kaede said lowering her head.

"Fool! I will not obey you!" The demon shouted in anger.

Miroku looked down at Kaede and felt her energy begin to pulse.

"What's going on?!" Miroku asked aloud.

"What is it Miroku?" Sango asked fighting against the hold on her.

"Kaede's spiritual power and demonic power has increased!... Wait a minute... I know this change... InuYasha! The Tetsusaiga has been removed from Kaede! She's transforming!" He shouted.

"What?!" InuYasha looked down at Kaede.

A spark of spiritual energy generated around Kaede and it increased like bolts of lightning.

"What is this?!" The demon yelled as it realized what she was doing.

The spiritual energy shot into the demon and it had no choice but to release it's hold on the four in it's grasp. The group fell to the ground and scattered away from the demon. The pulsing around Kaede began to pick up pace.

"Miroku, what's happening?!" Kagome shouted as she ran out of the hut and joined the others.

"Kaede's spiritual power has increased exponentially... And I'm afraid that since this has happened, and she's not holding the Tetsusaiga, that she may also have her demon powers increased as well." Miroku answered.

The group looked to Kaede as she began to change.

"Her hair!" Shippo shouted.

The girl's hair began to change to a natural silver, and her claws and fangs grew as well. She looked up to the demon and her eyes were blood red with tiny blue pupils, as well as two purple streaks across her right cheek.

"She's transformed just like InuYasha!" Sango pointed out.

The newly transformed Kaede quickly jumped at the demon and it was unable to move in time, the girl used her claws as spiritual extensions and the purple light grew around her hand and she struck through the demon with no problem.

"This can't be... POSSIBLE!" The demon shouted as the moisture around it fell to the ground like drops of rain.

Kaede landed on the ground behind the demon and turned to look at what she had done with a grin.

The demon fell to it's knees and it almost seemed as though it had half melted, but it was still able to control some of the moisture around it.

"Miroku, Sango, protect Kagome!" InuYasha ordered.

"Right, let's go!" Sango said as she led the other two back towards the hut where they watched from inside.

"This is bad guys... It would be easy if it were InuYasha transforming because all I would have to do is use the charm of the beads to transform him back to normal, but we don't have a way of controlling Kaede!" Kagome said sadly

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For the Next Chapter!

"Kill...me..." Kaede squeaked out.

"What?!" The group said together.

Kaede fell to her knees. She didn't know how much longer she could hold on to her human side's mind.

"Kill...me..." She hissed again.

"What the hell are you talking about?! I'm not going to kill you! Forget it! No, you have to take the pain of fighting this! You have to be stronger than that!" InuYasha scolded her.

Kaede was starting to lose her human side and she stood back up. Looking up at InuYasha, her eyes started shifting back and forth from her amber colored eyes to her red and blue demon eyes. One tear shed from her eyes as they shifted to the amber color. The amber eyes didn't last long, as they shifted over to the demon red eyes. Her demon self lunged forward at InuYasha.

"Then this is what it will be, huh?" InuYasha said silently.

As the girl approached InuYasha and began to swing her claws, InuYasha saw an opportunity to attack and took it.


	16. Her Weakness

Sorry about the long waiting folks, I've been a bit busy so I haven't even had much time to even write. I know that the last couple of posts that I made were a bit longer than usual, so it made for longer reading, but this chapter isn't quite as large as the previous. Here's my friday post! Enjoy!

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InuYasha looked around quickly and found both his sword, and Kaede's sword and ran to grab them both. As he did this Kaede ran through the demon like she, herself, was a weapon, and her spiritual powers diminished the demon down to a puddle, and the fog cleared from the courtyards. Kaede turned and looked at the group with her newly transformed face. She was soaked in the moisture of the demon as if she had been standing in a rainstorm. The girl walked forward a little and then bent down to the ground and picked up the jewel shard that the demon had possessed, and placed it within the inner lining of her kimono top.

"What do we do? She probably doesn't recognize us right now!" Shippo asked sadly.

"InuYasha! Since Kagome can't "sit" her like she can you, you'll have to get Kaede to touch the Tetsusaiga!" Miroku shouted from across the courtyards.

"That shouldn't be too hard!" InuYasha said as he sprinted forward at Kaede holding her Tetsusaiga in front of him.

Just before InuYasha could touch the sword to Kaede, she jumped out of the way quickly. She jumped so quickly that InuYasha couldn't track her scent as to where she had gone and before he knew it, he had been kicked in the back and skidded into a nearby hut, destroying it.

"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled, wanting to run to his side.

"...Stay away... from me!" Kaede shouted in a deadly tone of voice.

InuYasha managed to climb out of the wreckage, still holding Kaede's Tetsusaiga.

_"Damn! Because she's full demon she's faster and more powerful than me! How the hell am I going to do this?!"_ InuYasha thought to himself.

"InuYasha! Kaede may have the same knowledge that you do as a full demon! She may know who you are but may not be able to control herself!" Miroku yelled from the hut.

InuYasha looked to the girl who seemed to be shivering.

_"Her human side is trying to fight the demon side! She's trying to change back!" _

InuYasha pulled himself completely from the wreckage and jumped to Kaede, landing within feet from her.

"I know you understand me... I need you to overcome this feeling of hatred... I need you to take control of yourself..." InuYasha tried to reach to Kaede's human side.

"What's he doing?" Shippo asked.

"I think he's trying to talk to her human side... He's trying to help her overcome her demon blood!" Kagome realized.

"Let's hope it works..." Sango added.

"Come on! You can hear me! I know you can! And I know how hard it is to do this, but you have to fight!" InuYasha continued, hoping that he was getting through to her.

Kaede was in constant struggle. Her body was pumping full demon blood through her veins, and her heart beat like a drum against her chest. The hatred in her heart was still overpowering the love that she had left over. Her mind was racing with, what seemed to be, two different people's thoughts. One side was telling her to attack and finish off everyone there, but her human side was able to fend it off just enough to keep from killing everyone.

_"Come on Kaede, pull it together! These people are your friends and family! You can't possibly want them dead! You can do this!"_ One side of Kaede's mind was trying to fight against the other.

_"They mean nothing! Kill them now! Just imagine their blood between your fingers! Feel the power coursing through your veins and kill them!"_ The demon side spoke up.

Kaede's arms and legs were trying to move on their own accord. They were wanting to strike forward at InuYasha. Kaede felt like she was going to lose herself in the battle. All that she could do was get a short message out.

"Kill...kill..." She forced out of her mouth.

"What did she say?" Kagome asked.

"What is it?" InuYasha asked confused.

"Kill...me..." Kaede squeaked out.

"What?!" The group said together.

Kaede fell to her knees. She didn't know how much longer she could hold on to her human side's mind.

"Kill...me..." She hissed again.

"What the hell are you talking about?! I'm not going to kill you! Forget it! No, you have to take the pain of fighting this! You have to be stronger than that!" InuYasha scolded her.

Kaede was starting to lose her human side and she stood back up. Looking up at InuYasha, her eyes started shifting back and forth from her amber colored eyes to her red and blue demon eyes. One tear shed from her eyes as they shifted to the amber color. The amber eyes didn't last long, as they shifted over to the demon red eyes. Her demon self lunged forward at InuYasha.

"Then this is what it will be, huh?" InuYasha said silently.

As the girl approached InuYasha and began to swing her claws, InuYasha saw an opportunity to attack and took it.

"InuYasha... NO!" Kagome yelled, fearing that he was actually about to kill her.

"Here I come!" InuYasha yelled as he kicked the girl in the stomach and she flew to the ground.

As InuYasha landed he ran at her and touched the Tetsusaiga to her hand. As soon as he did this, he could see her tense muscles begin to relax, and her eyes closed. She fell unconscious as the power drained from her body.

"InuYasha!" Kagome yelled as she noticed a small cloud of moisture coming at the hut.

The boy turned and saw the cloud of fog going at them as it destroyed one, and then two huts in the process of going after the one that the five were inhabiting.

"Kagome!!!" InuYasha ran forward as fast as he possibly could to try and get to their aid.

The fog was mere inches away from the shelter and InuYasha realized that he wouldn't make it in time.

_"No! This can't happen!" _InuYasha thought frantically.

Just as the boy realized that his friends' fates were sealed, he saw a flash of something pass him by and caught him off guard. The fog hit the hut just before the group could manage to escape and destroyed it completely.

InuYasha stopped dead in his tracks with his eyes as wide as moons.

"Ka-KAGOME!" InuYasha yelled, now knowing that his new wife was dead, along with all of his friends.

He looked back quickly to see if Kaede was still where she was lying unconscious on the ground. He thought that maybe if she were still alive, that Kagome hadn't died and the others would have still have had a chance to live as well. Looking frantically, he saw that she was, indeed, gone. He looked back to the wreckage of the small shack and watched as the dust began to settle. His eyes began to blur with tears.

"InuYasha!" he heard Kagome's voice cut through the deafening silence.

"Kagome?" InuYasha asked, wondering if it could have possibly been true.

The dust settled and InuYasha saw the light of a spiritual barrier. The barrier had managed to destroy the remaining amount of the demon and protected his friends. He then saw Kaede knelt down in front of his five friends. Her head had been lowered but she looked up at him from brown eyes and all black hair and smiled.

InuYasha sighed a great sigh of relief.

It was late in the evening and the seven had gathered around a fire in front of one of the bigger huts in the village.

"Kaede, what were you saying earlier about the fact that you had never seen one of those demons in this era before?" Kagome asked.

"That's right... That same kind of demon was introduced into my era by one of Naraku's incarnation experiments. It soon flourished across the land and it took a little while for me to discover how to destroy them. After that, I didn't see too many more of them."

"So then this is just another work of Naraku, and somehow I'm not at all surprised," Miroku stated.

"So you are full human now?" Shippo asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid so... I'm sorry that I might have been in a bad mood earlier, but I could feel my demon powers starting to ebb away. It always kind of upsets me when I know that I'm about to lose my demon side because, like I said, I lose them for about a week. And even though I still have my spiritual powers, I still feel a little helpless without my demon skills," Kaede explained.

"Why the hell didn't you just tell us that you were about to change anyway? Or even tell us about your full demon transformation time? Things could have gone a lot worse than what they did you know!" InuYasha scolded the, now human, girl.

"Wait a minute InuYasha, I don't remember you ever telling me when it was your time to transform into a human until we were attacked by those spider demons and we had to run from the temple..." Kagome brought up a sore subject.

"Well uh... that was different! She's our daughter! I hardly knew you back then! Don't try and change the subject!" InuYasha tried to save himself.

"You must still have some great strength as a human alone, because you were able to get to us before the demon managed to destroy us," Miroku said gratefully.

"No, I was still mostly demon but when I saw dad running after the demon to get to you guys my human side realized what was going on. So at the last moments of my transformation I used the rest of my strength to get there before he could. That was only luck," Kaede explained.

"Well that luck saved us. But I have to ask as well, why didn't you just tell us that you were going to change?" Miroku asked.

"I didn't know that I was going to transform into a full demon until the demon knocked the Tetsusaiga out of my hands. I don't normally change into a full demon unless I'm not carrying the Tetsusaiga and it's just about time for me to change into a full human... and I just... I just hate changing! And I didn't like believing that it was happening again so I guess I just got moody about it and didn't think to say anything."

"You couldn't have forgotten... I asked you what was wrong earlier and you said nothing, remember?!" Kagome accused her.

"I... I just don't like talking about it..." Kaede said in a low growl..

"Don't you like us yet Kaede?" young Shippo asked sadly

Kaede looked down at Shippo's glassy, green eyes and picked him up gently.

"If I didn't like you guys, I would have left by now..." Kaede said firmly.

"So it's... not that you don't trust us then?" Kagome asked in a sad tone.

Kaede looked up and saw that everyone was looking at her with half-hearted looks.

"Of course not! Some of you guys are family and rest of you are practically family! I could never distrust you! Really!" Kaede tried to convince the others that she was telling the truth.

"At any rate, your transformation leaves us at a loss..." Miroku broke the silence.

"How's that?" Kaede asked.

"Well, Kagome and yourself have the power over a strand of prayer beads around InuYasha's neck, as you know. When InuYasha transforms, all either of you need to do is "sit" him and he's pulled out of the transformation, with you, we don't have that kind of control, and we may not be able to catch up to you if you run, or keep you from hurting any of us," he finished.

"Well, I do have those extra beads for the just in case InuYasha's beads break, maybe I should cast them on Kaede?" Kagome asked.

"Huh?!" Kaede didn't like that idea at all.

"Well it would keep her from transforming again," Sango agreed.

"No! No way! Forget about it! You're not putting those things on me!" Kaede insisted.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" InuYasha broke through the conversation.

Kaede had a twinkle of hope in her eye as she realized that her father was going to stand against this idea as well.

"Can you make it so that I can be the one to do the "sit" thing?" InuYasha asked with an evil grin.

"WHAT?!" Kaede's twinkle of hope turned into despair.

"Don't worry! We can use it to stop your full demon transformation!" Shippo said happily.

Kaede turned to the fox demon child with fire in her eyes and said, "Yeah?! Well just wait until they're wanting to put one on you!!"

Shippo's happy face turned into a worried one, "Do you think that they're really going to do that?!"

Kaede looked back at Kagome and saw that she was rummaging through her own backpack.

"Here they are!" she said as she pulled out a small white cloth in which the beads were wrapped in.

"Did anyone hear what I was saying?!" she yelled.

"If we don't do this you could hurt someone else or yourself, and we just want to prevent that from happening," Miroku said as he, Sango, and InuYasha closed in on Kaede.

The young girl knew that because she had lost her demon powers she had been weakened and wouldn't be any match in speed against her father, but she did have one defense! She put up a spiritual barrier and blocked out anyone from getting a hold of her.

"Come on guys! Cut it out!" Kagome broke up the battle as they all stopped their squabbling and looked to her.

"If she doesn't want the beads, then I can't force them on her..." Kagome said as she put them away.

"HA!" Kaede said as she lowered her spiritual barrier.

InuYasha stood with his mouth agape, "What the hell do you mean by that?! You put them on me even though _I_ don't want them! Why does _she_ not have to wear them?!"

Kagome smiled at the boy and said, "Well, she said that she only transforms once a year, right before she changes into a human right? Well the threat is basically over, so until we're sure when she's going to change again, I don't see what good it'll do to have them on her now."

"She's right. Kaede said that she only transforms once a year and since it's already happened, we really don't need to worry about it anymore!" Sango agreed with Kagome.

The three sat back down and InuYasha still moped saying, "And I really wanted to be the one to "sit" someone for once!"

The group finally settled in for the night and slept.

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For the Next Chapter!

"My... My Master and I were traveling through the forest when a demon attacked us! My Master told me to run and he stayed to fight the demon! Please help him!" The boy said with dirt all over his face.

"Is that what I think it is?" Kagome asked suddenly.

The group turned to her and Kaede answered saying, "Yes, I sense a jewel shard in the direction of the forest!"

"I'm on it! Come on Miroku!" InuYasha said as he sprinted off towards the forest.

"Sango, stay here with Kagome and Kaede!" Miroku ordered before he also sprinted towards the forest.

"What sort of demon was it?" Kagome asked the boy.

He sat up and said, "It... It was a Python demon! I am sure of it!"

"A Python demon?" Sango asked.

"What is it Sango?" Kagome started to worry at the tone of Sango's voice.

"Python demons are extremely venomous! One bite from it could probably even kill InuYasha! And if what you say is true, this demon may posess a jewel shard and be even more powerful!" Sango explained.

Kagome looked back towards the forest and thought, _"InuYasha..."  
_


	17. The Python's Jewel Shard

Sorry that it's been so long since a new update folks! I've been a little busy. Enjoy the newest chapter!

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"We haven't come across a jewel shard in three days, _or_ seen one single sign of Naraku..." InuYasha said sarcastically.

"Well I can't say that I'm upset about not seeing Naraku, at least not for a while, but we have come across a pretty bad dry-run of shards," Kagome replied.

"Why don't you want to fight against Naraku right now Kagome?" Shippo asked innocently.

"She's probably worried about the fact that Kaede is still four days away from transforming back into a demon. That way we have a better chance of defeating Naraku," Miroku answered the fox child.

"Oh yeah! If Kaede transforms back into a demon, we could probably defeat Naraku a lot easier!" Shippo replied happily.

"It doesn't matter, I could defeat Naraku on my own!" InuYasha boasted.

"Yes, well it would probably put us all at ease knowing that we had more fighting power, InuYasha. Besides, not having to deal with Naraku gives us a better chance of preparing ourselves for a later battle. That way, we're ready for anything," Miroku replied.

They were walking on a small dirt path along side of a small stream, with the green leaves of a thick forest ahead of them. The skies were clear and blue and most of the day they had heard nothing more than the sounds of birds singing in the trees.

Everyone was quiet until they heard the sound of a man screaming.

"What was that?" Sango asked looking around.

Another scream and the group turned towards the forest where a young man in a priests' kimono was running from. The boy tripped on the path not far from where the group was, and they ran to his side.

"What has you scared?" Miroku asked the boy.

"My... My Master and I were traveling through the forest when a demon attacked us! My Master told me to run and he stayed to fight the demon! Please help him!" The boy said with dirt all over his face.

"Is that what I think it is?" Kagome asked suddenly.

The group turned to her and Kaede answered saying, "Yes, I sense a jewel shard in the direction of the forest!"

"I'm on it! Come on Miroku!" InuYasha said as he sprinted off towards the forest.

"Sango, stay here with Kagome and Kaede!" Miroku ordered before he also sprinted towards the forest.

"What sort of demon was it?" Kagome asked the boy.

He sat up and said, "It... It was a Python demon! I am sure of it!"

"A Python demon?" Sango asked.

"What is it Sango?" Kagome started to worry at the tone of Sango's voice.

"Python demons are extremely venomous! One bite from it could probably even kill InuYasha! And if what you say is true, this demon may possess a jewel shard and be even more powerful!" Sango explained.

Kagome looked back towards the forest and thought, "_InuYasha..."_

Kaede picked up her bow and started towards the forest.

"Where are you going?!" Kagome yelled after her daughter.

"They may need help!" Kaede said as she disappeared into the thick forest trees.

"Come back Kaede!" Kagome yelled but she was already gone.

"She's right, if the boys don't know what they're up against then they're going to need help!" Sango stated as she motioned for Kirara.

"I don't see anything yet!" Miroku yelled at InuYasha as they continued running through the forest.

"I can smell the demon just up ahead!" InuYasha yelled as he placed his hand on the hilt of his sword.

As they neared a small clearing in the forest, they came to the edge of it and noticed that it was a clear drop down into a large quarry, where they saw the bloody mess of the priest that the boy had spoken of.

"Is he alive?" Miroku asked InuYasha.

"Just barely..." he answered the monk.

Just as they thought that the demon had made a getaway, a gigantic serpent appeared from quarry's water and jumped at the two, Miroku and InuYasha jumping out of the way in time.

"A Python! InuYasha, watch out for it's fangs! A single bite could do irreversible harm!" Miroku warned.

InuYasha unsheathed his Tetsusaiga and faced the evil serpent.

"It doesn't matter, this demon has a jewel shard and that's all I need to know that it has to die!" he said as he jumped at the demon and swung his sword.

"WIND SCAR!" InuYasha yelled as his technique blasted towards the demon.

The Python managed to get out of the way just before the Wind Scar could have done any damage to it.

"He's fast!" InuYasha realized.

Miroku took some sutras from his kimono and threw them at the demon, one of the sutras managing to land on the demon, but causing it little damage.

"It's so strong! This demon really _is_ using a sacred jewel shard to increase it's powers!" Miroku realized.

The demon was now getting royally upset and lashed out at Miroku.

"Miroku!" InuYasha shouted knowing that he wouldn't make it in time to keep him from getting killed.

The demon fast approached the monk but just before it had managed to bite him, a purple light flashed by Miroku and tore into the Python.

"What?!" InuYasha caught the scent of the person who had shot the arrow and finally caught the image of Kaede still holding her bow out in front of her.

"What the hell are you doing here?! You're supposed to be back there with Kagome and Sango!" InuYasha yelled.

"Oh give it a rest, you needed me and you know it!" Kaede said with a smirk.

Miroku seemed to be the only one relieved at Kaede's arrival.

InuYasha jumped over to where Kaede was and grabbed her by the wrist.

"You're supposed to stay safe! How are we supposed to protect you when you keep doing this?!" InuYasha scolded.

Kaede almost thought back to when she was a child and she would be scolded like this from him. She looked away from the boy and Miroku stepped in.

"Calm down, InuYasha. If it hadn't been for Kaede, I would surely be dead by now!" he tried to reason with the demon boy.

Just after Miroku said this the Python demon blindly struck at the three. Miroku jumped off to the side and InuYasha quickly picked up Kaede and jumped to the other side, causing Kaede to drop her bow and quiver into the quarry.

"My bow!" Kaede tried to reach to them as they fell.

InuYasha tightened his grip on the girl to keep her from falling and scolded her saying, "Hold still! Just forget them for now!"

The boy landed on a grassy cliff and gently put Kaede down, but not without gripping her upper arm and looking down into her eyes.

"Go on and get out of here! Don't make me tell you again!" he said just before a familiar voice shot out.

"InuYasha!" Kagome's voice came out of nowhere, along with her, Sango, Shippo, and the young monk riding upon Kirara.

"Kagome! Stay back!" InuYasha ordered.

The girl didn't listen and she jumped off of Kirara and ran to InuYasha and Kaede.

"Take Kaede and get out of here!" InuYasha said angrily as he jumped away into the quarry.

Shippo and the young monk jumped off of Kirara and Sango took flight again as she began to swing her Hiraikotsu at the demon to help finish it off.

"You really _shouldn't_ be here you know," Kaede advised to her mother.

"What about you?! You're human now too!" Kagome shot back.

"Yeah, well I'm not the one carrying a kid!" Kaede reminded the other woman.

"Watch out!" Miroku yelled at the two women as the demon turned on them and started to strike.

"NO!" InuYasha yelled as he desperately jumped at the demon to kill it before it could kill his family.

As the demon closed in on the two women, Kaede put herself in front of Kagome in order to protect her young mother and was ready to accept her fate.

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For the Next Chapter!

"When were you going to tell us about your encounter with Koga?!" the boy asked her.

"I... well.. I -" Kaede started.

"You weren't!" he finished for her.

Kaede looked away and said, "You don't know me..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, sitting down next to Kagome just a few feet away from the girl on the ground.

Kaede didn't answer or look at them.

"Kaede, whatever it is, you can tell us," Kagome tried to coax the girl into talking outward to them.

"You guys... you died... I didn't have you around, I didn't have Miroku, or Sango, or Shippo around to teach me otherwise. I learned to live on my own and I learned to take matters into my own hands..." Kaede explained.

"But I thought Sota raised you?" Kagome asked.

"Well he did... But what he couldn't do, is protect us from attacks, or hunt. I did it all on my own. And when I got older and stronger, I would be away for days on my own. I learned how to take care of myself, so I don't want you guys to worry about me if I ever do go off on my own..." Kaede said quietly.

"But you don't _have_ to do anything on your own, and we are _always_ going to worry!" Kagome said quickly.

Kaede sighed and said, "Look, you need to worry about yourselves right now, worry about the others, I'm not even supposed to be here remember? You're going to have to realize at some point that, for right now, I'm older than you. I've come from an era where I had to fight every day of my life, and at some point, when this is all over, I'll be leaving to go back to my era for good."


	18. The secret she keeps always

Hey folks! Here's my normal Friday post! Thank you for your continuing support of my story!

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"Kagome!" A familiar voice yelled as a blur shot out from nowhere and sliced through the demon's head, dealing the final blow.

The demon fell into the quarry, and Kagome looked out from behind her daughter, who opened an eye to see who was, now, standing in front of her.

"Koga! What are you doing here?" Kagome asked in a relieved tone.

"I could smell a demon and then I caught your scent as well and knew that the mutt-face had put you in danger again.." Koga said as he rushed to Kagome and held her hand like he always had.

"Get the hell off of her!" InuYasha said as he separated Koga from his love.

"Something's off about Kagome's scent, mutt! Are you so thick that you put her in danger even when she was sick?!" Koga demanded to know.

"That's none of your business!" InuYasha scoffed at the wolf demon.

Koga turned to Kaede and said, "I also picked up the scent of _again_... I didn't know if that meant that Kagome was in more danger or what to think at all!"

InuYasha and Kagome had shocked looks on their face as they also looked to Kaede who was obviously about to put on an act.

"Uh -uh... W-Who are you?...exactly?... Have we met?!" Kaede stammered trying to think her way out of this.

"How the hell do you know her?!" InuYasha demanded.

"What? She didn't tell you? We've met once before, probably about a week ago, if that long. Except she looked a little different back then. What's changed? I don't think her eyes were that color before," Koga explained.

"No, she didn't mention that at all," Kagome replied looking to Kaede who was beginning to sweat a little.

Sango leaned over to Miroku and said, "She must have run into him while she was gone for those three days!"

Miroku nodded in reply and kept his eyes on what was going on in front of him.

"Is what he says true, Kaede?" InuYasha asked her in a low growl.

"Well...uh... I might have-uh... seen him in the village once!" Kaede said, trying to cover her tracks.

"Village? Are you out of your mind? I saw her up in the mountains, far from any village," Koga replied.

"You mean she was alone?" Kagome asked.

"Yeah, why?" Koga was confused.

Kagome and InuYasha turned to the girl, both with fire in their eyes.

"You were alone in the mountains... while we were gone... weren't you?!" InuYasha asked as he stepped forward and grabbed the girl by the front of her kimono.

"Well.. I mean... there's such a wide variety of what you could describe as a _"mountain"_ I mean, any little hill could be described that way right?" Kaede tried to reason her way out of it.

InuYasha turned to Miroku, Sango, and Shippo and said, "And you were all in on it too! Weren't you?!"

Miroku and Sango put their hands up in defense with nervous smiles on their faces.

"Why would you ask something silly like that?!" Sango started.

"Yes, I mean, why would we conspire something so insidious? We know how you would hate it if we had left her alone!" Miroku finished.

"They didn't know what I was up to, I just left them and didn't say where I was going..." Kaede explained.

InuYasha and Kagome were about to scold the living daylights out of the girl when Shippo asked, "Hey, where did that young monk go?"

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around.

"You mean him?" Koga asked, pointing to the bottom of the quarry where on the banks, was the young monk, looking over his Master.

"Master..." he said as he looked over his wounds.

"Just remember... everything... that I've... taught you... and live..." The old man struggled to get out just as he died.

"Master, no!" the young man yelled as he watched the life drain from his master's eyes.

The group watched above as the old man died before them.

It was later in the evening and the sun was about to set. The skies seemed to be ten different shades of orange and red as the sun laid on the horizon. After helping the young monk bury his teacher and master monk, they had waved him goodbye as he insisted on continuing his trek as his master would have wished him to. They then built themselves a spot to settle in for the evening, and had explained everything to Koga to make him and his two friends understand the situation better. As soon as they had finished this, Koga decided that it was time for him, Ginta and Hakaku to continue their own quest.

"So where are you going now Koga?" Kagome asked.

"Where else? To find Naraku! But don't worry!" Koga said as he grabbed Kagome's hands again.

"You may, now, be carrying InuYasha's child, but I will still love you forever! I'll see you soon my love!" Koga explained as he ran off, Ginta and Hakaku following behind him.

"We've got another shard of a jewel and we've made the day's earnings, we should fix ourselves something good to eat!" Miroku pronounced cheerfully.

"Yeah! I'm starved!" Shippo said with a growling stomach.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that I've run out of food from my time already, but there's a river nearby so we should catch some fish and throw them over a fire," Kagome said looking through her bag of goodies.

"Come on Kirara! Let's go catch some fish!" Shippo said as he and the little cat demon skipped off towards the nearby river.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Kaede said as her mouth watered with the anticipation of fresh fish!

"Oh no you don't!" InuYasha said as he grabbed the back of her kimono.

"Hey, what's the deal?" Kaede said confused.

"You, me and Kagome have some things to discuss!" he said as he pulled her away from the campsite, Kagome following not far behind.

"What, do you suppose, they're going to want to talk to her about?" Sango asked.

"They're probably going to speak to her about running off. But we'll wait and see," Miroku replied.

InuYasha still had a hold on the back of Kaede's kimono as he and Kagome led her somewhere away from the group.

"Come on! Let go! I'm not going anywhere!" Kaede struggled against InuYasha just as she did when she was a child and he would grab her kimono and drag her along.

Finally, InuYasha let go of her and sat her down on the ground.

"When were you going to tell us about your encounter with Koga?!" the boy asked her.

"I... well.. I -" Kaede started.

"You weren't!" he finished for her.

Kaede looked away and said, "You don't know me..."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked, sitting down next to Kagome just a few feet away from the girl on the ground.

Kaede didn't answer or look at them.

"Kaede, whatever it is, you can tell us," Kagome tried to coax the girl into talking outward to them.

"You guys... you died... I didn't have you around, I didn't have Miroku, or Sango, or Shippo around to teach me otherwise. I learned to live on my own and I learned to take matters into my own hands..." Kaede explained.

"But I thought Sota raised you?" Kagome asked.

"Well he did... But what he couldn't do, is protect us from attacks, or hunt. I did it all on my own. And when I got older and stronger, I would be away for days on my own. I learned how to take care of myself, so I don't want you guys to worry about me if I ever do go off on my own..." Kaede said quietly.

"But you don't _have_ to do anything on your own, and we are _always_ going to worry!" Kagome said quickly.

Kaede sighed and said, "Look, you need to worry about yourselves right now, worry about the others, I'm not even supposed to be here remember? You're going to have to realize at some point that, for right now, I'm older than you. I've come from an era where I had to fight every day of my life, and at some point, when this is all over, I'll be leaving to go back to my era for good."

Hiding in the bushes not too far from where they were arguing, Miroku, Sango, and Shippo were listening.

"That was rather harsh to say wasn't it?" Sango asked quietly.

"Well see things from Kaede's point of view. She doesn't want to be protected since this is the past for her. She wants to keep it so that it's almost as if she was never here in the first place. She's also had to spend half of her life fighting to the tooth and nail to live every day. She's not used to going from fighting day to day to having us around to protect her." Miroku explained as he looked back to the other three.

"We're just asking that you let us help you, and that you stick with us. We want everything to work out for the future, and we don't want to send our own daughter back to her era dead!" Kagome tried to reason with Kaede.

Kaede looked away as if she were thinking of something that she really wanted to say, but couldn't.

"Quit hiding things from us! If you have something to say just come out and say it!" InuYasha's frustration was starting to overflow.

Kaede stood up and said, "There are some things that's best that you didn't know... For now anyway..."

"Well, I'm sure that the others are starting to wonder where we're at, so I guess we better get back..." Kagome said sadly.

Kaede stood in front of her mother and said, "Please try and understand... I'm trying to do what's best for the past... _and_ the future..."

Kagome nodded and walked back towards the campfire while InuYasha stayed behind with Kaede for a moment.

"Maybe you're trying to do what's best for the past, but it's _your_ future that Kagome and I are worried about, not ours..." InuYasha said as he walked away, leaving Kaede alone to stare at the sunset...

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For the Next Chapter!

"Who's there?!" Kaede backed up, worried that she didn't have her bow or her demon powers to fight with.

Just as Kaede was about to really worry, a small fox child jumped out from the bushes.

"Oh, Shippo, it's just you! You scared me!" Kaede said looking down at the young boy.

"What are you doing up so early, Kaede?" Shippo asked.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided that I'd wash my face and get ready for everyone else to get up," Kaede replied with tired eyes.

"Can I go with you?" Shippo asked happily.

"Sure, I could use the company."

Walking to the river, Kaede looked up and saw that the skies were turning a dark gray.

"We'd better hurry and wash up, it looks like it could pour any second," Kaede advised her young friend.

She knelt down to the river and dipped her hands in, splashing water on her face when she heard the cracking of thunder which boomed loud enough to shake the ground. Kaede turned and saw several bolts of lightning which got closer and closer. One of which got so close that it struck a nearby tree, which Shippo was under on the bank of the river washing up.

"Shippo!" Kaede yelled to warn the boy, but as he looked up a tree limb had already began to fall.


	19. Tragedy by the River's Edge, Kaede Lost!

Okay folks, here's my Friday post! Hopefully I can post it within the next minute to make it a friday post D

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_It was a clear day, and Kaede was laying out in an open field. The wind blew and the young girl could feel the chill on her face and smiled. It was so hot that the wind felt very good indeed.  
_

_The girl opened her eyes and sat up, turning to look behind her only to see her mother and father, along with Miroku, Sango, Shippo and Kirara standing far across the field from them. Kaede felt so much love and closeness to the group and she, for some strange reason, felt very lighthearted, as if she had nothing to worry about. As if, at that moment, she knew that Naraku had been defeated and she could finally live a normal life._

_Kaede smiled and laughed as she waved to everyone and then stood on her feet, about to run to them. She took a few steps towards them when she noticed a strange, black aura emanating from behind her friends and family._

_"Watch out! Behind you!" Kaede yelled in order to warn them all._

_The group still did nothing but smile with great anticipation, waiting for Kaede to run to them, seemingly unaware of the demonic presence approaching them._

_Kaede ran as fast as she could to get to all of them, but before she could get there she began to feel something within her. It was familiar but she couldn't quite understand exactly what it was. She looked over herself and then she looked back at the group who looked at her, now, with fear and worry._

_"What's...wrong?" Kaede asked them, trying to reach for them as she fell to her knees._

_Kaede suddenly felt a familiar pain of anger. It was overcoming her like a sticky tar spreading over her body._

_"No... Not now... Please, not now!" It was the same struggle that she had experienced when she was overcome by her demon side._

_Before her vision blurred out of perspective she could see the evil, smiling face of Naraku, and then darkness._

_Waking up, Kaede could feel a soft wind kiss her cheeks as it had before._

_"Was...Was it a dream?" Kaede questioned just before she could open her eyes._

_As she slowly sat up, she could feel a wave of scents overcome her._

_"Is that... blood?" She could smell it all. It smelled horrible because they were all familiar scents._

_The girl turned to see puddles of blood, which surrounded... her family and friends._

_Kaede's eyes grew wide and she got up and ran to them, yelling at them to wake up, ordering them to open their eyes._

_"Mom! Dad! Wake up! Please! Miroku, Sango! Shippo! Wake up!" the girl yelled with tears in their eyes._

_Before Kaede could even get close to their bodies, she stopped when she saw dark stains on her white kimono. It was their blood, it was all over her. Under her claws, in her hair, it saturated her entire body._

_"...No... I couldn't have... I didn't do this!" Kaede tried to tell herself._

_"How does it feel?" a calm, sinister voice asked with a chuckle._

_"What?!" Kaede said, looking around her, seeing no one, but knowing who it was._

_"How does it feel to know that you have slaughtered your only family. You've killed them all! By your own hands, you've killed the people who cared for you. And they died knowing only fear, fear from someone they could trust!"_

_Naraku appeared behind the pile of bodies which laid before Kaede._

_"They're all dead! And it's all because of YOU!" Naraku chuckled again._

_"No... No... NOOOO!"_

Kaede shot up quickly from her nightmare, her lungs felt like deflating balloons that had very little room for air as she gasped. It was still only early evening, but Kaede felt wide awake, and she didn't feel safe to go back to sleep now.

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It was very early the next day, even InuYasha was asleep. The sun had barely risen, but you wouldn't have been able to notice because the skies were a rainy, gray color. But one person remained awake. Kaede had been awake most of the night. She didn't get one wink of sleep after her nightmare. Even as a human, if she had something on her mind it would keep her eyes wide open.

_"I guess I'll just go ahead and wash up for the day..."_ Kaede thought.

Kaede got up and walked quite a ways away from the group but just before she got there she heard something moving around in the bushes.

"Who's there?!" Kaede backed up, worried that she didn't have her bow or her demon powers to fight with.

Just as Kaede was about to really worry, a small fox child jumped out from the bushes.

"Oh, Shippo, it's just you! You scared me!" Kaede said looking down at the young boy.

"What are you doing up so early, Kaede?" Shippo asked.

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided that I'd wash my face and get ready for everyone else to get up," Kaede replied with tired eyes.

"Can I go with you?" Shippo asked happily.

"Sure, I could use the company."

Walking to the river, Kaede looked up and saw that the skies were turning a dark gray.

"We'd better hurry and wash up, it looks like it could pour any second," Kaede advised her young friend.

She knelt down to the river and dipped her hands in, splashing water on her face when she heard the cracking of thunder which boomed loud enough to shake the ground. Kaede turned and saw several bolts of lightning which got closer and closer. One of which got so close that it struck a nearby tree, which Shippo was under on the bank of the river washing up.

"Shippo!" Kaede yelled to warn the boy, but as he looked up a tree limb had already begun to fall.

Kaede leapt as fast as her human legs could carry her and she shoved the small fox demon out of way. Shippo slid a few feet away and looked up as he saw Kaede get struck by the tree limb and fall into the river.

"Kaede!" Shippo yelled as he transformed into his balloon image and floated above the river to look for the girl.

"Kaede! Kaede where are you?!" The little boy had trouble keeping up with the fast pace of the river.

Shippo looked over and over but couldn't find the girl.

"I better go get InuYasha!" the boy said as he floated off towards the campground.

As Shippo arrived at the campgrounds, he saw that the storm had awoken everyone and he flew down to where they were at.

"Shippo! There you are!" Kagome said with a smile.

"Where's Kaede?" Sango asked.

"She was struck by a tree limb and fell unconscious into the river!" The little boy said with tears in his eyes.

"What?!" InuYasha shot up to his feet.

-------------------------------

Kaede could feel her body aching. She knew that she would be covered in scratches and bruises being that she was still full human, but it still took her a moment to open her eyes. She opened them slowly and painfully, feeling blood running down her face. She then realized that she had fallen over a large waterfall, and probably hit every rock on the way down. But she was lucky to have washed up on a nearby bank of the continuing river. She tried to pull herself up but she could hardly move an inch.

"What is it?" A woman's voice suddenly became clear to Kaede as she stopped trying to move and listened closely.

"Come on mommy! Look what Satoru and I found!" a child's voice sounded frantic.

"Oh my goodness!" the woman's voice sounded shocked.

Kaede then felt someone grab onto her and pull her all the way out of the water and turned her over so that she was lying on her back. The blurry image of a middle-aged woman looked down upon her with fear in her eyes.

"Young woman! Can you understand me?! Are you all right?" The woman asked, trying to see if Kaede was responsive.

"...help... Shippo... okay?" The injured Kaede managed to force out before she passed out again.

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For the Next Chapter

It was nearing noon, and InuYasha and the others were still looking for Kaede in the river, having traveled far downstream to look for her.

"Damn! Still no sign of her! Where the hell could she have gone?!" InuYasha was becoming more frustrated.

"You don't think that she could have been kidnapped do you?" Kagome asked sadly.

"It's possible... Maybe Naraku was in the area and thought he'd see what kind trouble he could cause!" InuYasha became more angry with every thought that Kaede could have fallen into Naraku's hands.

"Wait a minute, InuYasha. We passed by a village a while ago. Perhaps someone there has helped her. We should at least give it a shot, before we commit to the idea that she has been kidnapped," Miroku suggested.

"Yes, anyone could have found her besides Naraku. We should at least check just to make sure," Sango agreed.

"Let's just give it a try, InuYasha. It's better that we know we've covered every base instead of wondering what we could have done later on," Kagome pleaded.

"Fine! But we better hurry, just in case we've missed something else!" InuYasha agreed as they all turned around back towards the long way back and hurried off.


	20. The tortured village

Here's my normal Friday post! Remember, I try to keep up with posting on Fridays, so if you miss a post, then you'll always be able to come right back to it! Thank you for your continuing support!

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"Kaede!" Kagome shouted from atop Kirara who was flying just above the waters of the harsh river, Sango and Shippo with her as well.

"Say something! Where are you?!" Shippo yelled as well.

InuYasha and Miroku were running down both sides of the river's banks, trying to find any sign of the girl that they could find.

"Do you smell her yet, InuYasha?" Miroku asked loudly from across the river.

"No! I can only pick up bits of her smell in the river but it's mostly washed away!" The demon replied angrily.

"How did this happen, Shippo?" Kagome asked the young child.

"She and I were already up and we went down to the river to wash up and a storm came in on us fast! I didn't realize that a tree had been struck by lightning and a heavy limb would have crushed me! But Kaede saved me and was knocked into the river by the limb! I tried to save her but the river is so fast and I... I couldn't find her!" Shippo began to tear up again, feeling guilty about Kaede's possible death.

"It's my fault! Kaede's gone and it's my fault!!" Shippo cried out.

InuYasha stopped running and looked to the boy and said, "Stop your crying! Kaede's not dead so stop saying stupid things like that!" he yelled.

_"InuYasha is just as worried as Shippo is..."_ Kagome thought to herself as she saw the boy take off back down the river again, in search of the young girl.

------------------------------------------

It was so warm. Warm sheets, the smell of fresh meat cooking over a fire, it was all so comforting.

"Mommy! Come here!" a child shouted.

Kaede could hear feet pounding the wooden, rickety, floors; which became louder as they approached.

"Mommy, she moved! I think she's waking up!" the child shouted again.

Kaede finally opened her eyes as she could see the blurry images of four people in the room, looking over her.

"Can you hear me? Are you awake?" the older woman's voice sounded worried and despaired.

"Yeah... I can... hear you..." Kaede said quietly.

There was a group sigh of relief, and then the woman spoke again.

"Good, you're conscious! We were sure that you would die on us!" a man's voice said softly.

The blurred images of people finally started to come into perspective and she saw two smiling children, a woman and a man.

"Mommy! Daddy! Can we keep her when she's well?" the young boy asked.

The mother laughed slightly and replied, "No, Satoru. She probably belongs to someone else and they're probably very worried about her."

Kaede's memory then snapped to attention and she remembered who she was, and who would be coming for her. She tried sitting up quickly and felt her ribs protesting every movement.

"Easy, you shouldn't move too much right now. You're lucky to be alive as it is!" The man insisted as he kneeled down to the girl's side.

Kaede could feel some broken ribs, cuts on her forehead, and some sore muscles, but other than that, she knew that she would be fine.

"It's okay, I've had... worse than this, believe me," the girl said as she sat up fully and stopped to catch her breath.

The mother had gone over to the fire and picked up some food and brought it to the girl.

"Here, if you plan to move right now, then you'll need the strength to do so," she said as she handed Kaede the wonderful smelling meats.

"Thank you... How did you find me?" Kaede asked, still a little confused.

"My sister and I had found you floating down the river and brought you to the shore!" the young boy said excitedly.

Kaede looked to him and smiled saying, "Did you now? I appreciate that very much!"

"Hey! I saved you too!" the little girl felt left out of the gratitude.

Kaede looked to her as well and said, "Just the same to you then! Thank you!"

"My name's Saiya! And this is my brother, Satoru!" The girl said happy to have received the recognition.

"Daddy brought you back here after Mommy told us to go get him! You were covered in blood!" Satoru filled the rest of the story in for Kaede.

Young Kaede looked to the parents with an embarrassed look and said, "I'm sorry to have caused so much trouble, thank you for saving me!"

"Please, you were nearly dead! How could we have just let you die? We were only happy to help!" The mother said whole-heartedly.

"So how did you end up in the river? You must have fallen over the falls and are lucky to be alive," The father asked.

"I was struck by a tree limb, and I guess it knocked me unconscious as I fell into the river and went downstream," Kaede replied as she tore into the food.

"A tree limb? My word! You really _are_ lucky to be alive!" The mother was surprised at Kaede's story.

As Kaede finished her meal a young man yelled outside of the large home.

"It's back! The demon has returned! Everyone, take cover!" he yelled as he ran to hide himself.

"Oh, not again!" The mother said as she motioned for the children to go to her.

"Demon? What kind of demon?" Kaede asked, astonished.

"No one knows! A few weeks ago a strange-looking demon appeared in town and began killing some of the villagers! It looks like a badly burned human, but it walks limply and whoever it touches, dies by burning!" The father said as he picked up a weapon, ready to defend his family to the death.

--------------------------------------------

It was nearing noon, and InuYasha and the others were still looking for Kaede in the river, having traveled far downstream to look for her.

"Damn! Still no sign of her! Where the hell could she have gone?!" InuYasha was becoming more frustrated.

"You don't think that she could have been kidnapped do you?" Kagome asked sadly.

"It's possible... Maybe Naraku was in the area and thought he'd see what kind trouble he could cause!" InuYasha became more angry with every thought that Kaede could have fallen into Naraku's hands.

"Wait a minute, InuYasha. We passed by a village a while ago. Perhaps someone there has helped her. We should at least give it a shot, before we commit to the idea that she has been kidnapped," Miroku suggested.

"Yes, anyone could have found her besides Naraku. We should at least check just to make sure," Sango agreed.

"Let's just give it a try, InuYasha. It's better that we know we've covered every base instead of wondering what we could have done later on," Kagome pleaded.

"Fine! But we better hurry, just in case we've missed something else!" InuYasha agreed as they all turned around back towards the long way back and hurried off.

------------------------------------

The man took a large, wooden club-looking instrument, and stood next to the hut entrance, and the woman had put her arms around her children to protect and comfort them.

"A demon that kills with one touch? What could that possibly be?" Kaede asked aloud.

There was a stillness of quiet for a long moment. Just as everyone thought that perhaps the coast was clear, they heard the screams of the man who had warned everyone to hide. It was close... very close...

Kaede couldn't wait to see what was going to happen any longer and slowly got to her feet.

"What are you doing? Stay back!" The woman called out.

Kaede put an arm around her opposite side to comfort her paining ribs.

"I'm not used to staying out of the action, I just have to get a glimpse of this myself," Kaede replied with a half smile.

She walked to the entrance of the hut and pulled the blanket aside just a bit, so she could peek out and not attract attention to herself. She looked down the dirt path of the village both ways and didn't see anything at all. Not a human, not a demon.

"Well, whatever it was, it looks like it's gone," Kaede said as she pulled the blanket aside completely and walked out of the hut.

"Is it really gone?" Saiya asked as she broke free from her mother's hold and ran outside.

"Saiya! Come back!" The mother cried out to her daughter.

The girl walked outside and without warning she screamed. Kaede turned and saw the gut wrenching sight of what seemed to be a human with burns all over their body. It was dangerously close to Saiya and her mother and father called out in fear. The demon reached out to the child, who had her back to the hut, not moving in complete fear. Kaede tried to run to her, but the child's father reached her first and grabbed his daughter, about to pull away when the demon touched him just slightly.

"No!" Saiya yelled knowing what was to come

The man pushed his child back to the hut just as his body began to light in flames on the sleeves of his kimono which began to spread. Kaede couldn't watch anymore and jumped at the demon.

"Stay back!" The man yelled, but Kaede didn't listen. She put her hands together and brought up a spiritual barrier and deterred the demon from taking the man completely. She rushed between them and the demon touched her barrier, and it's hand was purified.

Kaede pushed the man back towards the hut, who then took off his kimono top and threw it on the ground, still on fire. As Kaede turned back to the demon she saw it holding it's hand, which now looked like a healed human hand.

"What?" Kaede asked herself in shock.

_"My spiritual barrier must have purified the demon! Maybe..."_ Kaede thought to herself as she jumped at the demon and sent out a wave of spiritual energy.

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For the Next Chapter!

"What?!" Miroku said aloud suddenly.

"What is it Miroku?" Kagome asked.

"I sense strong spiritual energy!" he stated.

"Where is it?!" InuYasha asked.

Miroku had to center himself for a moment and then opened his eyes and pointed, "There! That way!"

"All right!" InuYasha took off quickly where Miroku had pointed.

"Let's go Kirara!" Sango ordered as the cat demon followed InuYasha.


	21. Transformation?

Hey guys! Here's my normal end-of-the-week post. I have to say end of the week because I can't seem to post on Fridays D. Enjoy!

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"What?!" Miroku said aloud suddenly.

"What is it Miroku?" Kagome asked.

"I sense strong spiritual energy!" he stated.

"Where is it?!" InuYasha asked.

Miroku had to center himself for a moment and then opened his eyes and pointed, "There! That way!"

"All right!" InuYasha took off quickly where Miroku had pointed.

"Let's go Kirara!" Sango ordered as the cat demon followed InuYasha.

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Kaede was thrown away from the demon in retaliation from her dose of spiritual powers. Her, already, hurting sides felt another shockwave of pain roll through. The demon growled loudly as it curled up on the ground, half of it, now purified from Kaede's barrier.

_"If I don't take care of this, now, then the demon will return to it's burned form and continue to kill people in this village!"_ Kaede thought angrily.

The girl stood up painfully and put up another barrier and ran at the demon. This time, though, the demon managed to knock her away and into a small shed, which tore it apart.

"Oh no!" The woman shouted, "The demon killed her! What can we do?!"

"We have to fight it!" The man said as he picked up his club in his burned arm but was stopped by a priest.

"Wait! That woman is not dead... In fact, I'm not so sure that she _is_ a human..." the priest advised.

"What do you mean? She is obviously a priestess!" The man asked, but the priest just stood with his eyes half cracked at the wreckage of the shed.

There was suddenly a pulsing that arose from the shed.

"There! You see?!" the priest pointed out.

"What _is_ that?" the man stopped in his tracks and set his eyes dead on the shed.

Some of the wreckage shook with the pulsations from underneath it and finally everything suddenly burst as the woman jumped from the wreckage, high into the air, and then landed on the ground.

"She looks... different... but how?!" The man turned to ask the priest.

Gold eyes set on the demon and the woman rushed at it at speeds no human could possibly accomplish. The spiritual barrier arose from around the girl which was stronger this time! She rushed at the demon and engulfed it with spiritual energy. The light from the purification became too bright for the villagers to look at as they all looked away.

Kaede finished the process and jumped back, landing on the opposite side of where the villagers stood. The light dissipated and the villagers looked up to see a man, wearing worn clothing looking at himself. Kaede looked at the man and smiled.

"So I was right!" She said aloud.

"Wha- What is this? Am I really alive?" The man was in shock.

A woman from the group of villagers walked out of the group, pushing people out of the way and looking at, what seemed to be a demon, now a man.

"K-Kaoru?... Is it really you?!" The woman asked with tears forming in her eyes.

The man looked up and saw the woman, and then his eyes grew wide and teared up as well as he ran to her, and she to him. They shared a long embrace and the villagers sighed with relief.

"How long have I been gone?" The man asked as the villagers gathered around.

"You've been missing for nearly a month!" one of the men replied.

"My love, what happened to you?" The woman asked sadly.

"Well I remember hunting alone, and then coming upon some woman, who feigned injury. I offered her help but she turned on me and the next thing I know I'm on fire! I believe she was a witch who bewitched me to roam the earth as a fiery demon! I hope no one was harmed because of me..." The man explained.

"Well, I'm afraid that a few people have fallen, but we are glad that it's all over now..." one of the men replied.

"Yes, but who was it who saved me?" The man asked suddenly.

"A woman... a very unusual woman who left just as soon as you were returned to normal," the town priest said looking at where they had last seen her.

Satoru and Saiya turned to their injured father, and their mother and asked, "Mommy, will that woman ever come back?"

They looked at each other and then smiled as they looked towards the sky.

"Let's hope that we have the honor of seeing her once more children," the mother replied.

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Kaede sat at the bank of the river and looked back at the waterfall.

"Well, turning back into a demon caused my ribs to heal faster, now all I have to do is get back to everyone... But why is it that I transformed back so early?" Kaede thought looking at her claws through her newly transformed golden eyes.

"There!" A boys' voice yelled from downstream.

Kaede looked up and saw InuYasha, carrying Kagome, who smiled widely when she saw Kaede.

"She's a demon again!" Shippo yelled with a smile from Kagome's shoulder.

The group arrived, including Sango and Miroku who landed next to Kaede on the ground.

"You're all right!" Shippo bounced to Kaede and she picked him up.

"I'm glad to see that you're okay as well!" She said with a relieved smile.

"What happened to you?" Kagome asked looking over the girl for injuries.

"Well, I -" Kaede started before being interrupted.

"There she is! Mommy! Daddy! Over here!" a young girl's voice yelled out of nowhere.

Two children ran up to Kaede and two adults followed. Shippo looked down at the unfamiliar children from Kaede's arms, confused.

"Why did you leave us?!" Saiya asked.

Kaede knelt down to them and smiled saying, "It was time that I got back to my own family."

"You mean you don't like us anymore?" Satoru asked sadly.

"Not at all! I could never not like you guys! But I needed to leave to find my family," Kaede replied with a smile.

"We're so glad that you're all right, we were afraid that you had taken off with those injuries still!" The woman said with a worried look.

"Injuries?" Kagome asked, seeing some remnants of scratches on the girl that were quickly healing.

Kaede stood back up and looked at the worried faces of her friends and parents and said, "I'm fine! I promise!"

"My sister and I saved her from the river! We pulled her onto the bank and daddy brought her to our home to clean her wounds!" Satoru explained.

"Yes, she had broken ribs and some pretty bad scratches as well," The man added.

Kaede butted in and said, "But I'm _fine_ now!" she said with her hands up defensively with a nervous smile.

It was late in the evening and the sun was finally starting to set. In order to explain the days' events, the family of four invited the travelers to their home to put them up for the night. At this point, the man had his arm wrapped and treated by Kagome's first aid case.

"You say she purified a man who was under a spell?" Miroku asked, astounded.

"Yes, the man had been missing for quite some time now, and it was strange that, what we had thought to be a demon, appeared around the same time. I'm afraid he will never be the same, though. He just learned that he was the reason that six of our villagers had been killed over the past month. But hopefully, we can all recover from this. We wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for this young woman," The man explained.

At that point, Kaede had fallen asleep, as well as Saiya and Satoru.

"She saved my daughter and my husband... If it weren't for her, they would have been burned..." The woman looked to Kaede who was sleeping with her back against the wall, and her Tetsusaiga in her grasp.

"You're daughter?" InuYasha asked.

"Yes, I'm afraid that Saiya managed to get away from me when Kaede had gone out to look for the demon. My husband went after her but the demon came close to destroying him as well. Kaede jumped in the middle of the two and put up her spiritual powers against the demon. She saved both of them," The mother said gratefully.

"Let me ask you something, "Kagome started, "Does your daughter run off frequently?"

The mother and father smiled and said, "Yes, it's quite strange, because our son does not stray too far away from home, but Saiya has always gone missing for hours at a time. There was a time when she was gone overnight, and we were out until the early morning hours looking for her, only to find her asleep under the stars by the river banks."

"Well that sounds familiar," InuYasha said looking back to Kaede.

"You must have been very worried about her," the father said with a smile.

"Yes, we always worry, and it doesn't seem to fade her any in stopping her ways of going off on her own," Kagome replied.

"Well, if we've learned anything from our Saiya, it's not that she doesn't care that she's making us worry, it's that she just can't stop exploring. It's just her way of living, even if it means making us worry. She's decided to live the way she wants to live, and we know that we can't change her mind," The mother explained.

"Yeah, we're just really worried that the one time that we're not looking for her, she'll be harmed..." Kagome said sadly.

"I would have trouble believing that she would be so easily hurt. From what we saw earlier today, she has the heart of a fighter, and the strength of one as well. You're very lucky to have such a girl traveling with you," the man said gratefully.

The five travelers looked back at the sleeping dog demon, who was finally sleeping soundly without any nightmares.

"Yeah... I guess we are pretty lucky," InuYasha said putting an arm around Kagome as they all smiled at the girl.

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For the Next Chapter!

Kagome walked outside and looked up at her daughter and asked, "If you're going to eat, then you better come and get some food before everyone else eats it all!"

Kaede looked down at Kagome with a gloomy look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, beginning to wonder what was on Kaede's mind.

The woman demon jumped down from the top of the hut and stood with her back against the hut, looking down at her feet. At that point, Shippo and Kirara walked outside as well.

"There's still a little bit left, Kaede! You better get something to eat before InuYasha finishes it!" Shippo advised with a smile.

InuYasha quickly sprinted out of the hut and gave Shippo a knock on the head saying, "What was that?!"

Although this would normally amuse Kaede, she couldn't help but have a certain issue keep her from even giggling.

"Come on, Kaede, what's wrong?" Kagome asked again, this time getting the attention of the other three outside with her.

"Listen... I think I'm going to have to go back to my era..." she began.


	22. For the Future

Thank you for all of your continuing support! I'm making my Friday post a little early, maybe I'll get another one up sooner than next week! Enjoy!

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It was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep, even the two people who had always had trouble sleeping, InuYasha and Kaede, were soundly snoozing. They were all invited to stay the night in the cabin of the family that Kaede had saved the day before and it made for a warm and cozy sleep.

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"Where are you going, Kagura?" Kanna asked as she noticed Kagura leaving their safe house in the middle of a forest.

"I'm going out, I can't stand being cooped up in this place anymore... I'll be back..." Kagura said as she began her way out of the house.

"Do not be gone for long, Kagura.. We have plans to carry out soon," Kanna warned.

Kagura scoffed and then walked out of the house and threw her feather up in the air, taking off flying.

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Kaede had felt so safe and relaxed that, for once, she had let her guard down in order to sleep. But now something was shaking her out of her sleep. Still half-asleep, her senses began to come into focus.

"Hey kid!" a voice loudly whispered.

"Mmm-hmmm?" Kaede started to wake up and her eyes opened slowly.

When she looked up she saw the familiar face of the wind sorceress, which caught Kaede off guard and she stood up quickly, ready to sound the alarms.

"Wait!" The sorceress whispered angrily, "I just need to give you some information that you might want to hear..."

Kaede looked around and saw that everyone was still sleeping. She then motioned for Kagura to leave the hut and she then followed her.

They walked to the river banks where their conversation would not be heard.

"So, what could you possibly want?" Kaede asked.

"Well first I just wanted to say that I know all about you now... that you're from the future... and that you are, of course, InuYasha's daughter..." Kagura started.

"Yeah? Anything else that will be of interest or help to me?" Kaede was beginning to think that Kagura had nothing of interest to offer her.

"I just thought that you'd like to know what Naraku was up to as well..." Kagura said in a taunting tone.

The dog demon looked up at Kagura with questions running through her head and wide eyes.

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Kaede made it back to the hut before anyone had awaken, and the sun was beginning to rise. The girl sat down where she had when she was asleep, but she couldn't fall back to sleep this time. It didn't take long, though, for the others to start waking up.

Soon enough, everyone was awake and they were all enjoying some breakfast, everyone except Kaede. She had gone outside and was sitting on top of the hut, contemplating to herself like her father had done on many occasions.

Kagome walked outside and looked up at her daughter and asked, "If you're going to eat, then you better come and get some food before everyone else eats it all!"

Kaede looked down at Kagome with a gloomy look in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked, beginning to wonder what was on Kaede's mind.

The woman demon jumped down from the top of the hut and stood with her back against the hut, looking down at her feet. At that point, Shippo and Kirara walked outside as well.

"There's still a little bit left, Kaede! You better get something to eat before InuYasha finishes it!" Shippo advised with a smile.

InuYasha quickly sprinted out of the hut and gave Shippo a knock on the head saying, "What was that?!"

Although this would normally amuse Kaede, she couldn't help but have a certain issue keep her from even giggling.

"Come on, Kaede, what's wrong?" Kagome asked again, this time getting the attention of the other three outside with her.

"Listen... I think I'm going to have to go back to my era..." she began.

"What? Why?!" Kagome pressed on.

"I just... I need to check on something and I have to go now... I'll be back as soon as I'm done, I promise, but I have to go do this..." Kaede finished, looking up at her young parents.

InuYasha and Kagome looked at each other and then to Kaede.

"I'll go with you then!" InuYasha said confidently.

"No... I'm sorry, I can't let anyone go back with me, it's too dangerous," Kaede said firmly.

"Why are you needing to go back so bad, all of a sudden?" Kagome asked, now very worried.

"I'm sorry, I can't go into more details until I confirm everything for myself..." Kaede said looking back at the ground.

Miroku and Sango walked outside, now wanting to know what was happening.

"What's going on out here?" Sango asked.

Shippo jumped up on Miroku's shoulder and said, "Kaede wants to leave us!"

"What? But why?" the demon slayer asked again.

"I...I can't say for sure yet, but I need to go back to my era and check on something..." Kaede repeated.

"Did something happen yesterday?" InuYasha asked.

Kaede looked up at him and said, "No, everything here is fine... well, at least I think it is for now anyway..."

"Why don't you just tell us what's on your mind? That way we could offer our help," Miroku asked.

"Well, like I said, I think I need to look into this myself, I'll explain everything when I get back, I promise. I just need to do this on my own," the girl said as she went back into the hut and grabbed her own yellow backpack.

"I wish you would let us help you..." Kagome tried to reason.

"Believe me, if it wasn't so dangerous there I'd take every one of you with me. But it doesn't work that way, at least right now it doesn't. I'll be back soon, I promise!" Kaede said as she sprinted off.

The family of four joined the others outside and watched as the girl ran off from them.

"Where's Kaede going Mommy?" Satoru asked.

"I don't know sweetheart," she answered.

"I guess this means that you will all be leaving us?" the man asked.

"I'm afraid so. We'll just need to gather our things and we'll be on our way," Miroku replied.

"Thank you for letting us stay here for the night, we really appreciate it!" Kagome said with a smile.

"It was no trouble at all! We were more thankful that your friend had saved us!" The father said, patting his young daughter on the shoulder.

"Tell Kaede that we'll miss her!" Saiya said with a wave as the travelers left.

"So why do you think that Kaede left us so soon?" Sango asked.

"I'm not sure... She sounded worried about something, that's for sure, "Kagome replied.

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Kaede had sprinted as fast as she could to get back to the village, and had made it there in exceptional time. As she ran through the village to get to the well, old Kaede noticed her, as did the other villagers.

"What's going on? Why isn't InuYasha and Kagome with her?" the old woman wondered.

Young Kaede tore through the forest until she came upon the well. She sat her backpack down on the ground and rummaged through it, pulling out the little remote that she had used once to get through the well the first time. She pulled her backpack back over her shoulders and programmed the remote. The well lit up with the same bright orange that it had before and she placed the remote in a hidden zipped pocket to keep from losing it.

Kaede almost decided to turn back. She didn't want to go back to her own era because she knew how dangerous it was and she had almost gotten used to not having to fight for her life every day. But under the circumstances she had no choice. She stepped onto the lip of the well and jumped in. Soon after, the light disappeared.

It was morning on the other side of the well. Kaede appeared inside the old wooden well and looked up. It was so quiet. She had never heard this side as peaceful as it was. Jumping out of the well, Kaede looked around the old hut to make sure that her nose wasn't failing her in recognizing any hidden demon scents. She became in a constant awareness mode, just as she had before she had left this era. As she opened the door to the shed, she poked her head out to look around the courtyards.

"Well, everything looks the same..." Kaede said as she slowly walked the rest of the way out of the shed.

Sprinting through the courtyards, she ran up to the house that she had left just weeks earlier.

"Uncle Sota? Uncle! Are you here?" Kaede said as she walked through the door.

Kaede could smell his scent, but it was starting to fade so he had been there recently, probably checking to see if she had returned.

"Well I better just stick around for a little while and relax after all of that running. I'll just have myself something to eat before I go and check everything out," Kaede said with a growling stomach.

Kaede opened some of the remaining cabinets in the kitchen and saw some of the stored away food that Sota and her had left whenever they had decided to come back and spend time in the house and try to make repairs to it. As the starving girl pulled some of the food down from the cabinets, she heard some noises from outside and a new scent.

"A demon!" Kaede put the food down and put her hand on the hilt of her Tetsusaiga.

She quickly rushed to the back door of the house and opened it slowly, listening for what was outside. After not being able to pick up on where the scent was, she walked outside and looked around.

"Who the hell are you?!" A voice called out as someone swiftly kicked Kaede from the side and knocked her over, sending her sliding into a storage shed and busting a wall out of it.

_"Damn! Whoever it was they were fast!"_ Kaede thought as she got back to her feet.

Picking up on the scent again, Kaede looked and saw that the demon was right above her about to attack. Because she was at such a disadvantage, Kaede put up a spiritual barrier and the demon stopped the attack, jumping off of the shed and onto the other side of the courtyard, to face Kaede.

Kaede had rebroken the same ribs that she had broken just a day earlier in the other era so they were already still just finishing up healing so this made the girl somewhat angry as she transformed the Tetsusaiga and almost had trouble holding it up.

The demon stood up all the way and walked towards the girl a little with wide eyes.

"K-Kaede? Is that you?!" The demon asked.

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For the Next Chapter!

"Do you really think that we should return to the village?" Sango asked.

"Well, I think I would feel better if we were closer to the well. That way when Kaede returns, we'll know it," Kagome replied in a worried tone.

"_And_ it will give us time to prepare for any upcoming battles. Let's just take this opporitunity to relax. With all of the searching we did yesterday, we're pretty tired out as it is," Miroku added.

InuYasha just walked along with his normal annoyed look, but if you would have asked him, he would have agreed all the way, for once, that it was time to go back to the village. He was just angry that Kaede told him to stay behind. And of course, the occassional worried thought would cloud his mind.


	23. Reason to leave, Reason to stay

As I promised, here's the newest chapter! Thank you for your continuing support! Enjoy the Chapter!

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"Do you really think that we should return to the village?" Sango asked.

"Well, I think I would feel better if we were closer to the well. That way when Kaede returns, we'll know it," Kagome replied in a worried tone.

"_And_ it will give us time to prepare for any upcoming battles. Let's just take this opportunity to relax. With all of the searching we did yesterday, we're pretty tired out as it is," Miroku added.

InuYasha just walked along with his normal annoyed look, but if you would have asked him, he would have agreed all the way, for once, that it was time to go back to the village. He was just angry that Kaede told him to stay behind. And of course, the occasional worried thought would cloud his mind.

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The demon walked closer to Kaede and she looked him over. His hair was long, and light brown, as was his tail. His bright, green eyes looked directly into her gold ones as he walked to just a few feet away from her.

"A... A fox demon?" Kaede transformed the Tetsusaiga back into it's neutral form.

"Is it really you?!" The demon came forward and hugged Kaede tightly, agitating her ribs.

Even though Kaede felt the pain of her ribs, she took in a deep inhale of the demon that was hugging her.

"S-Shippo?" The girl asked.

The demon backed off and said, "It's been so long! I can't believe that it's you!"

He then looked at her with a worried look, "I'm so sorry! I didn't know it was you! Did I hurt you?"

The two had gone back inside of the house and Shippo prepared some of the food as Kaede sat down at the table.

"I'm so sorry that I attacked you! If I had recognized your scent sooner I probably wouldn't have done that..." Shippo explained with guilt.

Kaede smiled and said, "Don't worry about it Shippo! I probably would have known it was you as well if I had recognized your scent as well. Except for the fact that it's changed a little."

"My scent changed?" Shippo asked.

"Yeah, and I'm not surprised. When demons get older their bodies give off different scents than when they're young. I should have seen through the change and realized it was you."

"I guess I never really noticed myself. To me it's always been the same," Shippo said with a smile as he sat a plate of rice in front of Kaede and himself.

"Well I mean... it get's complicated, that's all... Anyway, what I'd like to know is how it is that you're here," Kaede asked.

"Oh right! Well I guess it was because you saved me that I managed to survive!" He said happily.

"Saved you?"

"Yeah, when that tree branch came down upon me you pushed me out of the way and took the brunt of it! When you did that, you changed the fact that I would have died!"

"But I thought that you died in the past when Naraku caught you and Miroku and Sango off guard?" Kaede asked.

"Well, just before you were born, InuYasha and Kagome made the decision to take me to the future. Miroku and Sango were attacked alone in the past while I was in the future. However, a few years after Miroku and Sango died, I decided to go back to the past to train myself and try and help to defeat Naraku. So I'm not surprised that you don't remember me, you were just a toddler when I left for the past," Shippo explained.

"Well, and also I'm from a different point in time where you weren't alive at all, so I don't remember because for me, you never existed... But I'm glad to see that you're here," Kaede said with a smile.

Shippo smiled but then looked at his plate of rice as if it were a plate of garbage that he didn't want to touch.

"What's wrong?" Kaede asked seeing the young man's face.

"Well I... I mean I guess it's nothing..." Shippo said still looking down at his plate.

"It's never nothing when you're looking like a truck just ran over your dog, what's wrong?" Kaede said in a frustrated tone.

"Well it's just that... I wanted to know... Back in the past, you said that you had to return here for a little while..." he began.

"Yeah? What's the problem?" Kaede was wanting him to get on with his point.

"Why...Why did you never come back?" he asked looking up at her sadly as if he were a child again.

"I... I never came back?" Kaede was confused.

"No... We waited for weeks for you to return, and after so long, Kagome and InuYasha had no choice but to leave the village... They were so sad, they thought that perhaps you had abandoned us... I don't think that they _ever_ got over losing you..." Shippo continued.

"I-I didn't know about that... Mom and Dad... They never told me that..." Kaede didn't understand why it was that she had never returned to the past.

She looked up at Shippo who had a horribly sad look on his face.

"Shippo, I promise that I had planned to go back to the past! Honestly! You have to believe me!" Kaede tried to persuade the boy.

"What was so important that you had to return here anyway?" Shippo asked.

Kaede sighed and looked down at her food.

"The night that we had spent in the cabin with that family, the day before I left. Do you remember that?" Kaede began.

"Yeah, I remember InuYasha hitting me... And then you said that you had to go to the past, but you wouldn't tell us why, or even let InuYasha accompany you," Shippo remembered.

"Yeah, well the night that we spent in the cabin... Before you guys awoke, I was visited by Kagura."

Shippo's eyes widened.

"Kagura attacked you and you didn't tell us?!" Shippo was both angry and confused.

"No, she didn't come to attack me, she came to give me information. She and I had a scuffle once before, when she had captured me and I was still under the effects of the miasma. She was going to kill me, but the sinenso herbs had finally started to reduce the poison in my body and I was able to defend myself against her. Just before she got away from me I told her that I would destroy Naraku and I believe that she decided to help me after that. So she had come to give me the information that would keep me ahead of Naraku's game," Kaede explained.

"If she wanted Naraku dead, why didn't she come forward and do it herself?" Shippo asked, reluctant to believe that Kagura wanted to help a foe of Naraku's.

"She couldn't. She was born of Naraku, and being so, he literally held her life in his hands. And every time she would disobey him, he would almost squeeze the life out of her. Plus, he had Kanna and other incarnations of himself keep an eye on her so that she didn't do anything against him," she explained to the non-believing demon.

"If she was being watched, then why did she come to give you information? Wouldn't she have feared that he was watching her and would kill her?" Shippo tried to think of reasons why not to trust Kagura.

"I'm pretty sure at that point she didn't care anymore. She wanted a free life, but if she had to die in order for Naraku to die, she would take the chance," Kaede answered.

"Well, if you say so..." Shippo didn't want to argue.

"Anyway, so in order to keep all of you out of it, we walked to the river so that we could talk. And she told me some interesting stuff."

"Well first I just wanted to say that I know all about you now... that you're from the future... and that you are, of course, InuYasha's daughter..." Kagura started.

"Yeah? Anything else that will be of interest or help to me?" Kaede was beginning to think that Kagura had nothing of interest to offer her.

"You may have noticed demons in this time period being somewhat different than what they were..."

"You know, I've been wondering about that... Naraku had something to do with it, didn't he?" Kaede asked.

"Not just Naraku, but the Naraku you knew as well," Kagura stated.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Kaede was confused.

"Apparently the Naraku from your time has come back to this time."

"What?!" Kaede stood up with her mind racing.

"And of course, being Naraku, he joined forces and combined his power with the Naraku from this time as well. So Naraku has become much more intimidating than before, and his power is unrelentless... You'll have to do better than an adamant barrage in order to break his new barrier..." Kagura finished.

"How the hell did he get back to this era?!" Kaede's heart was racing.

"I guess after he decided that he was just going to kill you for fun one day, he realized that you were gone, and he put two and two together all by himself... Anyway, I better get back before Kanna rats me out to Naraku that I've been missing."

Kagura threw her feather up in the air and as she flew away she looked back to Kaede and said, "I expect you to hold up to the promise that you made me!"

"Yeah... That's what she told me anyway..." Kaede sat with her eyes down to the table.

"So then, why did you come back here?" Shippo was confused, if Naraku was even stronger in the past, then why did Kaede run back to the future?

"I needed to know for myself. I needed some confirmation that Kagura was telling me the truth. So I came back here to find out what was going on," Kaede explained.

"You mean if Naraku wasn't here, then you would know for sure that he had managed to get back to the past and join forces with Naraku there..." Shippo understood what Kaede needed to find out.

"Yeah, that and I needed to check on Sota. I needed to know that Naraku hadn't used him to find out where I was at and then killed him afterwards."

Shippo looked up at the girl and said, "Well you just missed him. He was here for a few hours just staring down the well, and then he left."

Kaede felt a little relieved but said, "I would feel better if I had gone out to find him myself and talked to him face to face."

Shippo became a little angry and said, "No! You need to go back to the past!"

"What are you talking about? I've only been back for a few minutes, I have some time to kill, and I want to make sure he's all right," Kaede demanded.

Shippo walked around the table and got in Kaede's face, "You never came back to the past! Remember? What if going to look for your uncle is what ends up getting you killed?!"

Kaede looked the boy in the eyes and shot back saying, "I don't know what happened to me, but I can't let that keep me from looking for him!"

"No!" Shippo yelled slamming his fist down on the table, "I can't let you do that! I can't let you die! I would never be able to forgive myself if I was the only thing that could have stopped you but didn't! InuYasha wouldn't just let you wander off, and neither will I!"

Kaede wasn't going to hear anymore of this and said, "Shippo, you're being overdramatic!"

Shippo then had a shocked expression on his face and backed up.

"What now?!" Kaede didn't know exactly what to think of the face that the boy was making.

"What if... What if it was _me?!_ What if _I_ was the reason that you didn't go back because I had killed you?!" The boy's eyes were wide and his mind was racing.

"Don't be stupid, Shippo! It didn't take much to make you realize who I was, what makes you think that you're the reason that I could have been killed?!" Kaede tried to reason with him.

Shippo turned back to her and walked behind her, picking her up by the upper arms and leading her out of the house.

"What the hell are you doing?! Get off of me Shippo!" Kaede struggled against him, but now the tables had turned. He was a full grown, full demon, and he was more powerful than she was.

"You can't stay here! You have to go back to the past! InuYasha and Kagome were my family too, Kaede! And I'm not going to watch you die and have their hearts broken!" Shippo angrily drug the girl back towards the well.

"I have to see Sota before I go!" Kaede demanded.

"I'll let him know that you're okay, just please go back to the past where you're safe!" Shippo pleaded with Kaede.

"Shippo! Look!" Kaede looked behind them as she struggled against the demon's grip.

"Don't think that I'll fall for something that stupid!" Shippo said proudly as he continued towards the well.

"Shippo! Watch out!" Kaede said in fear.

Just as Shippo thought that he had done a good deed, he heard strange noises. When he looked behind him he saw a giant squid demon, and it began by throwing down one of it's tentacles. Shippo picked Kaede up quickly and jumped out of the way. Landing on the other side of the courtyard, Shippo turned and saw that the demon was coming towards them once again. He jumped again and landed behind one of the large storage sheds and put Kaede down easily.

"Listen Kaede, I'm going to take care of this demon, and while I do I want _you_ to get to the well and get out of here!" Shippo ordered.

"Don't think that you're just going to order me around! I'm not going to let you fight alone and -" Kaede was interrupted by Shippo hugging her tightly.

"Go back... Go back with them... with me... and save us! You're the only one who _can_ save us!" Shippo stood for just moments before letting go of the girl and jumping out back onto the courtyards to face the demon alone.

"Shippo..." Kaede didn't know what to think for a moment.

The boy looked back and saw the dazed Kaede still unmoving.

"What are you waiting for?! I said go!" Shippo ordered and snapped Kaede out of her state.

"Uh... Right! I'm going!" Kaede said as she ran into the nearby house and grabbed her yellow bag, and then sprinted back outside and to the shed where the well stood waiting.

The girl looked back to see Shippo fighting the demon with kicks and punches.

"He's changed so much... From the scared little fox child into a strong man... I'll fight too! I promise!" Kaede opened the door to the shed and nearly stepped in when she heard a loud "boom".

Looking back outside, Kaede saw Shippo, unconscious on the ground and the manipulated demon about ready to come crashing down on him.

"Shippo!" Kaede yelled, the boy still lying still.

"I can't let you die for me!" Kaede yelled, putting her bag on the ground and grabbing her sword, rushing at the demon.

Just before the demon could crush Shippo, Kaede cut off it's arms. The demon began moving erratically and Kaede acted quickly, she picked up the boy and jumped to the house, putting him down and turning back to the demon. It had already started to grow it's arms back and turned towards the girl.

"You're going down!" Kaede yelled as she ran towards the demon, cutting off an arm, and then another. As she was landing back on the ground one if it's arms came out of nowhere and struck the girl. She slid across the courtyard and slowly stood up, using the Tetsusaiga as a crutch before she pointed it back at the demon, running again.

"WIND SCAR!" The girl shouted as she swung the sword and a giant wave of energy shot out of the Tetsusaiga.

The technique had almost torn through the demon but it managed to jump out of the way, rushing towards the girl. Kaede didn't have time to react and the tentacle came at her, about to run her through. Kaede braced for the impact of it and closed her eyes.

Nothing happened.

Opening her eyes, she saw Shippo... he had been run through by the demon instead of her after jumping in the way of the tentacle.

"S-Shippo!" she yelled as she landed on the ground, and he next to her.

Kaede ran to him and he looked up at her and gritted his teeth.

"I...thought I told...you to... get the hell... out of...here..." he said just before he passed out.

Kaede's anger grew in intensity. Her eyes flashed red for a moment as she turned to the demon, who was coming back at them.

"I said... YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Kaede swung her sword again and yelled, "BACKLASH WAVE!"

The intensity of the backlash wave was too much for the demon and it was smothered under the technique, completely destroying it.

Kaede landed back on the ground and ran to Shippo.

"Hey, wake up! Shippo! Come on, wake up!" She demanded from the unconscious boy.

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For the Next Chapter!

They had all settled into old Kaede's hut and they explained to her what they had experienced.

"I see... So she did not tell ye why it was that she had to leave so suddenly?" the old woman asked.

"No, she just said that she would explain everything when she got back..." Kagome said sadly.

"I'm afraid all we can do now is wait... Kaede will most likely return, but we've returned to ensure that when she does, we'll be here waiting for her," Miroku commented.

"Where did InuYasha go?" Sango asked.

"I think he went to the well..." Kagome thought aloud.


	24. Impatience

Hey there, faithful readers! My apologies for the extreme lateness of my recent updates, I've been working on a few things outside of this story so it's been a little while since I could write another update. But fear not! I don't plan on leaving things in the middle of the story! Thank you for sticking with my story for this long!

Oh, and while I'm at it, I may as well throw another disclaimer in here too!

Disclaimer: I do not own "Inuyasha" and have never claimed so in any chapter of this story that I write. This Parody is based off of my own idea, based on the original anime "Inuyasha". Any other trademarked name or item in this story is also not claimed as my own.

Enjoy!

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The others finally arrived at the village where old Kaede was waiting.

"Hi Kaede!" Kagome yelled happily.

"I thought that all of you would be showing up sometime soon," the old woman replied.

"What do you mean by that?" InuYasha asked.

"Just a few hours ago, I saw young Kaede run through the village as if she were running out of time for something. Tell me, what's going on?" the old woman asked.

They had all settled into old Kaede's hut and they explained to her what they had experienced.

"I see... So she did not tell ye why it was that she had to leave so suddenly?" the old woman asked.

"No, she just said that she would explain everything when she got back..." Kagome said sadly.

"I'm afraid all we can do now is wait... Kaede will most likely return, but we've returned to ensure that when she does, we'll be here waiting for her," Miroku commented.

"Where did InuYasha go?" Sango asked.

"I think he went to the well..." Kagome thought aloud.

InuYasha was, indeed, at the well. He was sitting beside it just as he had always done when Kagome would leave for her time. Every once and a while he would think that he would hear a noise and would look down into the well, but would see nothing.

_"Where the hell are you!?..."_ InuYasha thought to himself.

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Shippo began to wake up. He could feel the warmth of a hot, burning fire. And he could smell the scent of medicinal herbs being cooked and roasted. He was under several blankets and could feel bandages wrapped tightly around him. Opening his eyes, he couldn't see anyone, and because of the strong odor of the herbs, he couldn't smell anyone either.

Sitting up a little, Shippo felt the pain of the injury to his stomach and winced.

"You're awake!" a woman came out of the kitchen and into the sitting room.

Shippo looked up and saw Kaede as she knelt down to him.

"How are you feeling?" she asked with a smile.

"Aren't you supposed to be going somewhere?" he asked, glaring at her.

Kaede wasn't faded by this comment and said, "Right, I should have left for the past and left you here to die... Forget it! You came close to death, I couldn't ignore that!"

Shippo looked at the floor and smiled a little, "You're just as stubborn as InuYasha, and you're just as caring as Kagome... I never realized it back then..."

Kaede looked at him with a wondering look, "Are you burning a fever too?" she asked leaning forward to put her hand on his forehead.

Shippo laughed as he laid back down on the floor.

"What's your deal?!" Kaede was confused.

"I don't know why I didn't see how much like them you are! It's just..." and he stopped looking up at her and sitting back up.

"It's just like being around them again! Like having my family back!" he said happily.

Kaede was almost worried about his behavior but then she understood what his meaning was and she smiled.

Shippo tried to move but the pain in his stomach stopped him and he shivered.

"Stop that! You haven't had time to fully heal!" Kaede scolded the boy and then went back into the kitchen to fetch some medicine.

Walking back out of the kitchen, Kaede carried a small, steaming bowl of herbal soup. She sat back down next to him and handed him the bowl.

Shippo inhaled the smell of the soup and looked back to Kaede with amazement.

"It smells just like the old woman's soup!" he said astounded.

"Well, old Kaede taught the recipe to mom, and mom taught it to me. It's really not that hard of a recipe. Now just drink it down," Kaede said happily.

Shippo took down the liquids eagerly and took a big breath, "That was great!"

Kaede took the bowl back to the kitchen and then yelled, "Now you can get some rest and I can find my uncle!"

Shippo almost didn't catch that last part but then shot up from laying back down and said, "What did you just say?!"

"Well, everything's okay now, so I can go look for Sota and make sure he's all right," she said from a distance.

Shippo looked at her with a grim look and said, "No!... No no no! Everything's _not_ fine! What makes you think that you're not putting yourself in danger by going back out there?!"

"Well I thought about it while I cleaned you up. You took that hit for me..." she said, sitting back down next to him.

"And?!" he asked impatiently.

"Well, I was probably supposed to take that hit to the gut, not you. So you saved me from being killed! So I can go back to looking for Sota before going back to the past!" Kaede said happily.

"Idiot! What if going back to look for Sota is what gets you killed anyway?! No! Forget it!" Shippo said crossing his arms as though he had put his foot down on the subject and that would be it.

"So what am I supposed to do?! Go back to the past and pretend that my uncle doesn't exist?!" Kaede asked getting slightly angry.

"You're _supposed_ to go back to the past and change the future so that it's not so dangerous anymore!" Shippo tried to make the girl understand.

Kaede was taken back by this and looked at him with a shocked expression.

"If you change the future, then we'll all be safe and alive! You really are the _only_ one that can change everything... Not trying to put the world on your shoulders or anything, but you need to understand the importance of your own life!" Shippo explained.

"If other people die, then what's the point of trying to save the future if no one will be there to be a part of it?! My life is worthless if there's no one there with me!" Kaede said as she stood up and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Shippo asked.

"To look for Sota!" She replied as she stomped out of the room.

Shippo shot up from sitting down and painfully walked into the kitchen.

"No you're not! You're going back to the past!" Shippo ordered as he watched the girl pack up her backpack.

"You're not the boss of me! I've lived here my whole life, and I know how to get around it!" Kaede packed the last bit of items into her bag and closed it off, loading it onto her back.

Before Kaede got out the door she was stopped by the boy tugging on her backpack.

"Wait a minute..." Shippo sighed.

"All right, but I'm going with you..." he said reluctantly.

"You can't go! You're injured!" Kaede said in a scolding tone.

Shippo reached up and barely backhanded the girls' side and watched as she flinched in a great amount of pain. She nearly fell to the ground before Shippo caught her and held her up.

"So are you... You can't go alone!" Shippo reminded the girl.

As soon as the wave of pain passed, Kaede stood back up and looked to Shippo as if she were about to smack the living daylights out of him for doing that to her, but she knew that he was right. If she went alone, she could be attacked and be at a disadvantage. If he went with her, then together they could probably fend off any attack.

"All right... Do you need any extra time to recover before we go?" Kaede asked.

Shippo was extremely glad that she had asked, because he wasn't sure that he could walk for more than a few feet, let alone for an entire day.

"Let's just stay here for the night and get started in the morning... That should do us both some good," Shippo decided.

Kaede sighed and put her bag down on a nearby counter.

"I suppose you're right... Come on, we better get some sleep," the girl helped Shippo back into the sitting room where she had him earlier.

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The stars were shining brightly in the past, and it seemed that the travelers were still playing the waiting game. InuYasha was staying diligently by the well, while the others stayed warm in old Kaede's hut. Kagome didn't know what to think of what has happening in the future and it was worrying her.

Sango and Miroku could see the worry in Kagome's eyes and Miroku decided to break the silence.

"I wonder if anything has changed in the future?" he asked aloud.

"I'm not sure. Hopefully it's changed in Kaede's favor," Sango replied.

Kagome didn't budge a muscle. Her eyes stared into the fire, while she was holding a plate of untouched food.

Shippo jumped into Kagome's lap and looked up at her with bright eyes and said, "Don't worry Kagome! If Kaede lived in that era for so long, then she'll most likely be okay for a few days alone!"

Kagome smiled a little and said, "Thanks, Shippo. I hope you're right. I just can't help but have this feeling as though we... may never see her return..."

Miroku and Sango couldn't help but feel helpless as well.

"Shippo's right Kagome. We keep underestimating Kaede's own strengths, but look at how often she's managed to overcome all of the obstacles here. She can shoot an arrow through Naraku's most powerful barrier, she fended of Kagura on several occasions, and her spiritual powers are astounding! I'm sure she'll be fine, so don't go and hurt yourself or your unborn over worrying," Miroku tried to persuade Kagome into having faith in her future daughter.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. I guess I just worry too much..." She said looking back into the fire.

_"Are you coming back?...Please be safe..."_ Kagome thought to herself.

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It was the middle of the night in the future, and Shippo slowly awoke, feeling that something was amiss. His eyes slowly opened and he looked around to see what he thought was wrong. The room was quiet, and the fire was slowly dying out. But one thing was missing.

"Kaede?" the boy sat himself up and looked around.

"Kaede?! Hey! Kaede!" Shippo got himself up, feeling that his wound was starting to heal and walked into the kitchen.

Shippo could smell the girl's scent but couldn't decide where it was strongest so he started to search for her. She wasn't in the kitchen so he walked down the halls and looked upstairs, where some of the damaged portions of the house were. He walked upstairs and saw that one of the bedroom doors were closed.

"Kaede?" Shippo opened the door a crack and saw the image of the girl lying in a bed, asleep.

The boy sighed in relief, at first fearing that the girl had decided to leave without him, but now was wondering what she was doing all the way upstairs. He was about to wake her but then a strong scent hit his nose. He looked around the room and could smell it from every crevasse of the room.

_"Is that... Is that Kagome's scent? And the other scent must be InuYasha's... Yes! I'm sure of it! It's definitely their scents! I remember now! When I lived here, years ago, this was Kagome and InuYasha's room..."_ Shippo thought as he looked down at the sleeping girl.

_"It's obvious why she's here then... her senses are probably even stronger than InuYasha's... She can smell them too! Which means she was practically drawn here at the scent of her parents... This is, after all, where she spent the last happy moments as a child before her parents died..."_ Shippo thought to himself sadly.

He couldn't help but feel a small amount of the same sadness that she did. He had cared for everyone as though they were his own family, and they had to be separated, partly because of Kaede's birth, but otherwise they would have survived if it had not been for Naraku... And they could have been a family again after the girl had gotten older and strong enough to fight in the past with them.

Shippo sat down next to the bed and put his back against it. He'd feel better if he could keep a watch over her, just in case she needed someone to be there when she had to awaken from the sweet dreams of childhood...

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For the Next Chapter!

"Let's go!" Kaede said confidently with a smile as she turned and walked out of the back door.

Shippo smiled along with the girl and strolled outside as well, both of them looking up at the bright, blue sky.

"Wow, it's looks really nice here! It's been a while since I've seen this place in the light of day instead of under a cloud of darkness..." Kaede said with a half smile looking back to Shippo, who was also amazed at the surroundings.

Kaede looked to Shippo and said, "Well, we're never going to find Sota by staring at the scenery!"

As Kaede walked away Shippo walked to her quickly and blocked her for a moment.

"What is it?" she asked as she stopped and looked up at his serious face.

"I just want to make sure that you want to do this. That you know how dangerous it will be and that you know how against this I am..." Shippo said firmly.

Kaede sighed and looked up at the boy saying, "I'm sure I want to do this. Yes, I know how dangerous it could get, and I'm more than fully aware about how against this you are, okay?! Can we go now?"

Shippo put his hands down from blocking Kaede's way and stepped aside as she strolled by him quickly. He watched her walk away and wondered what was going to happen next.


	25. The Search begins!

Hey guys, I'm sorry for how late all of my updates have been, but I haven't gotten much writing done on this fic lately, and with what I have, I wanted to make updates few and far between, but I promise I'll finish it! Thank you for your continuing interest in this story! Enjoy!

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InuYasha had been sitting by the well all night, and it was nearly morning, but the sun had not yet risen. He had managed to get very little sleep but was remaining vigilant of his surroundings. Just as he was about to fall back to a light sleep, he caught the scent of someone familiar.

Looking up and around him he saw the figure of a priestess coming towards him.

"Kikyo?" InuYasha stood up and watched as the woman approached within a few feet from him.

"You have spent much time at this well... What are you waiting on?" The priestess asked.

"I-uh... I'm just waiting for someone to return..." InuYasha said realizing that he had a thousand things to tell her and didn't know where to start.

"Something ails you, am I correct?" The woman noticed the look on InuYasha's face.

"Yeah... um... I guess I need to talk to you about... some things..." the dog demon could face demons that could wipe out entire villages with no problem, but facing Kikyo was a task that he would rather have not done.

"I met someone the other day… She seemed to remind me a lot of you..." Kikyo decided to say what he needed her to hear.

"What? You mean you... you know?" InuYasha was shocked to say the least.

"We met a few days ago... She didn't tell me exactly who she was, but she told me her name, and of what origin she was... Somehow, I knew that she was a part of you," she confirmed InuYasha's thoughts.

InuYasha wasn't sure how to respond to this. He looked to the ground.

"Is that who you're waiting for?" Kikyo then asked.

"Well... yes... She went back to her own time to do some things, and we're worried about her...I'm waiting for her to return," he said in a small voice.

Kikyo gave a half smile and turned. She looked back at the boy and said, "She will return, I have no doubt about that..." and then she was gone.

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_"He could probably pick up on mom and dad's scent too. Poor guy, my parents were his family too..."_ Kaede thought.

She sat up slowly, her ribs feeling ten times better than they had before. She reached forward and gently shook Shippo's shoulder in an attempt to wake him.

"Shippo... Hey, Shippo," she said quietly.

The boy mumbled in his sleep and his eyes cracked open just a hair.

"Come on, wake up! We've got to get going," Kaede continued to try and rouse the boy from sleep.

Shippo's eyes shot open and he quickly jumped up to his feet.

"Where is he?! Where's Naraku?!" he shouted frantically.

Kaede giggled at the boy and he turned to her and said, "What are you laughing at?!"

"You're more paranoid than _me_!" she laughed again.

Shippo didn't have much else to do but laugh a little along with the girl.

After they had a good laugh, Kaede stood up and said, "Well, how are you feeling?"

Shippo stretched and twisted and smiled saying, "Wow! Your medicines really did the trick!"

Kaede smiled and said, "Great! Let's get going!"

Kaede left the room and Shippo then realized what he had gotten himself into. He had already promised Kaede that she could go as long as he had gone with her. So, now, he knew that there was no way of talking her out of going.

_"I may have taken one hit for her... But if she continues to stay here she may have the run in with death that was supposed to happen anyway..."_ Shippo thought in a deep worry.

"Are you coming?! Or am I going without you?!" Kaede yelled from the bottom of the stairs as she gathered her things.

Shippo was shaken out of his thoughts and yelled, "Don't even think of stepping foot outside of this house without me!"

He ran down the stairs and into the sitting room where his own kimono top was lying next to the, now, dead fire. He quickly threw it on and tied it and then sprinted to the back door where the girl had just finished gathering her items.

"Let's go!" Kaede said confidently with a smile as she turned and walked out of the back door.

Shippo smiled along with the girl and strolled outside as well, both of them looking up at the bright, blue sky.

"Wow, it's looks really nice here! It's been a while since I've seen this place in the light of day instead of under a cloud of darkness..." Kaede said with a half smile looking back to Shippo, who was also amazed at the surroundings.

Kaede looked to Shippo and said, "Well, we're never going to find Sota by staring at the scenery!"

As Kaede walked away Shippo walked to her quickly and blocked her for a moment.

"What is it?" she asked as she stopped and looked up at his serious face.

"I just want to make sure that you want to do this. That you know how dangerous it will be and that you know how against this I am..." Shippo said firmly.

Kaede sighed and looked up at the boy saying, "I'm sure I want to do this. Yes, I know how dangerous it could get, and I'm more than fully aware about how against this you are, okay?! Can we go now?"

Shippo put his hands down from blocking Kaede's way and stepped aside as she strolled by him quickly. He watched her walk away and wondered what was going to happen next.

"Come on! Stop wasting time!" Kaede yelled as she started to sprint away.

_  
"InuYasha really did a good job at passing down his impatient gene..."_ Shippo thought as he sprinted off after the girl.

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Speaking of impatient demons, a certain dog demon on the other side of the well was still at his post, unmoving. Kagome had gotten worried about him as well and decided to go wait with him. She walked through the forest alone and finally saw the wooden well, as well as InuYasha. The boy looked up and saw the sight of the girl walking towards him and stood up.

"What are you doing out here?" InuYasha asked, concerned.

"I wanted to see if there was any sign of Kaede yet, and I was wondering when you would be coming back to the village," Kagome replied as she approached with a worried look on her face.

"Well, she hasn't come back yet. I don't even smell a faint scent of her through the well, so I know she's not nearby..." he said looking back at the well.

"And?" Kagome asked with a raised eyebrow.

The demon looked back at her and said, "Yeah, I guess I could go back to the village to wait..."

"Good!" Kagome said with a slightly raised spirit.

She grabbed the boy by the hand and started walking towards the village once again. As she pulled on InuYasha, he noticed something. Her face was pale, and he could smell a sort of sickness from her. As she walked, she started to slow down and her grip on his hand started to loosen.

"Kagome?" he asked worried.

Just as he thought that she was going to answer him, she fainted and started to fall to the ground, only causing him to rush to her and catch her.

"Kagome!" he yelled, holding her close.

After having rushed her back to the village, the others gathered around the girl, who was sleeping soundly by a fire.

"We should have seen this coming..." Miroku said quietly.

"What do ye mean?" old Kaede said as she sat down.

"Kagome has been worried, almost non-stop about young Kaede, and now that she's decided to go back to her own time for a while, it has Kagome even more worried. Just like the rest of us, she has no idea what kind of dangers are lurking in the future and she has felt helpless. InuYasha waiting by the well hasn't helped much either," he explained.

"What the hell does _that_ have to do with anything?" InuYasha asked furious that Miroku would suggest that he was the cause of the girl's illness.

"Calm down, all I mean to say is that Kagome sees you as the strong one. And because you've been sitting by the well, worried about your daughter, it made Kagome a little less strong, and the stresses of worrying didn't help her sickness," Miroku tried to keep the peace with InuYasha.

"So what's going to happen to Kagome?" Shippo asked sadly.

"Well I would imagine seeing Kaede come back without harm would help her greatly, but for now, all we can do is try and help her get better," Miroku said crossing his arms and looking into the fire.

InuYasha sat down next to his Kagome and thought

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"What is it?" he asked.

"Well I... I thought I could smell Naraku..." she said confused.

"Naraku? But I thought your _friend_ told you that he wasn't in this era anymore?" Shippo asked sarcastically.

Kaede scoffed and turned away, "I didn't' say that I trusted her completely, I was just following a lead, that's all... Besides, the smell was just there and now it's gone, so I'm not sure what to think now..."

"You shouldn't have listened to Kagura in the first place! That's what you should be thinking!" Shippo said confidently crossing his arms.

Kaede glared at the fox demon and then turned away and sprinted off in a new direction. Shippo watched her for a second and thought that maybe he had crossed the line a little but he continued to follow her.

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Chapter Teaser for next time!

Sota growled angrily at Jake and said, "Now do you see what you've done?! It's taken her so long to even show a smile and now this!"

Just then, the ground began to rumble and Sota's mind started to race.

"What is this?!" Jaken yelled, holding onto his staff for balance.

Rin ran from the cottage looking around for Sota and Jaken.

"Sota! What is this?!" Rin yelled as she approached the two.

"I'm not sure! Rin, take Jaken and hide in the caves!" Sota ordered.

"No one's going anywhere!" an evil and familiar voice cast upon the three as the demon showed itself.

"Naraku!" Jaken shouted.

"So _this_ is where you have been hiding for so long!" he said as he rose above them.

"You have been wise to elude me for these years! But now that I have found you, I have a use for you!" the demon said with an evil grin.

Sota stepped forward, motioning for Rin and Jaken to leave quickly and said, "And what is it that you'll be _using_ us for?!"

"I need to draw InuYasha's daughter out of hiding, and you'll be the perfect bait!" 

Rin and Jaken took heade to Sota's motionings and they turned and ran from the clearing.


	26. Reunion

Hey guys! As I've promised, I won't leave you in the dust! Here's another edition to "Her Fate, Their Mission" Enjoy!

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"Sota! Sota?!" A young woman called around a small forest cabin. 

The woman had pure black hair, and bright brown eyes. Her kimono dress was white and orange and went all the way down to her ankles, just as old robes were worn in the past. Her milky-white face carried a worried look about it as she looked around the small clearing.

"Jaken, have you seen Sota?" The girl asked a small green imp, who carried the two-headed staff with him as he approached the small cottage.

"I haven't seen him since early this morning. Perhaps he's, once again, gone back to the old shrine to see if Kaede has returned," he replied.

The girl looked down with a heavy heart and said, "He's been so quiet lately, and it seems all he can do is run back to that shrine... I wish he would allow young Kaede the time she needs to complete her task without worrying so much..."

"Who's worrying?" a man's voice came out of nowhere as his image appeared from a small dirt path.

The woman smiled with great relief and said, "Sota! There you are! I have been looking for you for quite some time now! Where have you been?"

Sota looked to the girl and said, "Oh, just walking around I guess... Going back to some of the abandoned towns and thinking..."

The girl frowned with worry again and said, "You should have more faith in her..."

Sota stopped smiling the fake smile and looked away.

"I know, Rin... I guess I just can't help but wonder if it was a good idea... I mean, I promised myself that I wouldn't allow anything bad to happen to her, and then I was stupid enough to let her go back to the past alone!" he said, clamping his fists in anger.

Rin smiled and said, "Trust her... And she will not fail you! She has survived a great deal in her lifetime, as well as you have. She knows how to take care of herself!"

"Aye! Lord Sesshomaru trained her himself! If she remembers his wise training, then she'll do well in her battles!" the imp said as he sat down on a small log.

Rin looked to Jaken with tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"Jaken! Look what you've done!" Sota yelled at the imp for reminding Rin of her own pains.

"What?! All I said was that Lord Sesshomaru taught that girl everything she knew of how to fight, and he trained her well! I did not mention of the fact that he was killed!" The imp said without thinking.

Rin ran into the cottage bursting with tears.

Sota growled angrily at Jake and said, "Now do you see what you've done?! It's taken her so long to even show a smile and now this!"

Just then, the ground began to rumble and Sota's mind started to race.

"What is this?!" Jaken yelled, holding onto his staff for balance.

Rin ran from the cottage looking around for Sota and Jaken.

"Sota! What is this?!" Rin yelled as she approached the two.

"I'm not sure! Rin, take Jaken and hide in the caves!" Sota ordered.

"No one's going anywhere!" an evil and familiar voice cast upon the three as the demon showed itself.

"Naraku!" Jaken shouted.

"So _this_ is where you have been hiding for so long!" he said as he rose above them.

"You have been wise to elude me for these years! But now that I have found you, I have a use for you!" the demon said with an evil grin.

Sota stepped forward, motioning for Rin and Jaken to leave quickly and said, "And what is it that you'll be _using_ us for?!"

"I need to draw InuYasha's daughter out of hiding, and you'll be the perfect bait!" 

Rin and Jaken took heade to Sota's motionings and they turned and ran from the clearing.

"Don't leave yet! The fun's just begun!" Naraku said going after them and ready to strike at them.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" A woman's voice yelled from behind Naraku and slashed at him, tearing him apart.

Naraku disappeared and a small wooden shikigami doll fell from the sky and split apart when it landed on the ground.

The girl landed to the ground and stood back up from the landing position.

Sota turned and saw the woman as she put her hands on her hips for a job well done.

"K-Kaede?!" he didn't know what to think.

The woman turned and saw her uncle staring at her in disbelief.

"There you are, Uncle! We've been looking all over for you!" Kaede said with a wide smile.

Sota ran to her and looked her over.

"You made it back alive!...But... the future hasn't changed... What's happened?" he questioned her after making sure that she had arrived safely.

"Kaede! Kaede, where the hell are you?!" Shippo yelled as he caught onto her scent and found her among the others.

Shippo landed next to the girl and said, "I heard you yelling! What's going on?!" It was more than obvious that Shippo was furious.

"I told you that I thought I could smell Naraku..." Kaede said picking up the pieces of the wooden doll.

"Is that a Shikigami?" Shippo asked.

"Yes... Naraku was using this and was probably controlling it from far away... He might have even been using it as a way of finding Sota and Rin in order to bring them back to the past and use them as bait... I can smell him from the hair he used to enchant the doll..." Kaede said in a hateful tone.

Shippo stared at the pieces of the doll as the girl dropped them on the ground.

Breaking the moment of silence, Rin and Jaken had heard no battle proceeding Naraku trying to attack them and came out from their hiding spot.

"Kaede! Is that really you?!" Rin yelled happily as she ran to the three.

"Rin! And Jaken! You're both all right!" Kaede turned to see them with a smile on her face.

"You've made it back safe and sound! Did something happen on your quest?" Rin asked cautiously.

"Well, it's sort of a long story, but I needed to come back here momentarily to make sure that you guys were safe. And I'm glad that I did," Kaede replied.

Sota looked at the girl and he had a thousand questions to ask, but he needed an answer to only one of them to be satisfied.

"Is... Is Kagome..." he tried to start but didn't know how to finish.

Kaede looked to her uncle wondering what it was that he wanted to say but then she realized exactly what it was and she smiled.

"Yeah... Both of them are there... And they're good... They're really really good," she said in a small, but happy voice.

Shippo needed to intervene and let Sota know what was going on.

"Look, I'm sorry to interrupt this moment, but I think your uncle should know a few things about what's going on!" Shippo said in an upset tone.

Sota looked to the boy and said, "Why do you seem so familiar?"

Shippo then realized that he wasn't going to remember unless he told him who he was.

"My name's Shippo, Sota... You remember don't you? When Kaede was born, I was brought back with Kagome and InuYasha. You probably don't recognize me because I'm quite a bit more grown-up now than I was back then," he explained.

Sota's mind went back and forth for a moment before he remembered.

"Oh yeah! I remember you! You left after only being here with us for about three years right? Where have you been all this time?" Sota asked happy that he remembered the boy.

"I was in the past for a few years to train and I didn't come back until recently... But anyway, that's not the point that I was trying to say earlier! You need to know what's going on here!" Shippo started to explain what he wanted to explain earlier.

"What is it?" Sota asked.

"Kaede is in danger!" Shippo went straight to the point.

"Danger?" Sota asked looking to the girl and then back to Shippo, "What kind of danger?"

"From what I remember, she had told us that she needed to leave the past and go back to the future to do something important, and she never came back... And this is the time! Now I don't know what it is that kept her from returning to the past, but I'm sure that it wasn't for any good reason at all!" Shippo tattled on Kaede.

The girl gave Shippo a good punch to the arm and said, "Thanks a lot!"

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Chapter Teaser!

"...We should leave here soon..." Kaede said out of nowhere.

Shippo turned to her in surprise and she looked at him and smiled.

"I have to get back to the past so I can save all of this... Save all of you!" she said still smiling.

Shippo's worried looks turned into happy ones as he nodded and said, "Let's go now... I'd feel a lot better if we did."

Kaede understood his worry and said, "Sure. Let's get some lunch first and then we'll go, okay?"

Shippo smiled big and nodded. Before they left the quarry, they heard loud "booms" from the direction that Sota and the other two were.

"...Sota!" Kaede yelled as she sprinted off quickly, Shippo following her.


	27. Caught off Guard

Betcha guys thought that you'd never see this story again did you? I promised not to give up on it, I've just been taking my time getting it together the way I want it. So here it is! Oh! And I'll try and keep the chapters long, but I can't promise much teehee!

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha.

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"You mean you never went back to the past at all?" Sota asked her.

Kaede sighed and glared at Shippo, "According to him, I never did... But that could be for a million reasons! I could have just as well decided not to go back, although I don't know why I would do that."

Shippo was taken back at the girl's comment.

_"She... wouldn't go back?!"_ he thought sadly.

Sota looked to her and smiled and said, "Well, you're here now. That, at least, must mean something.."

"Let's just be glad that you two made it here alive!" Rin said happily.

It was later in the afternoon, and Shippo had decided to leave the area in order to make sure that there weren't any spies or any forms of Naraku in the area. At the same time, Kaede was sitting with Sota, Rin and Jaken, telling them about her travels in the past.

"The past sounds just as dangerous as it is here!" Rin said worried.

"So my armband didn't work out?" Sota asked.

"Well, it would have worked if everyone weren't so keen to detect demonic aura's... I'm sorry uncle..." Kaede replied with her head down.

"Sorry for what? There was no way that you could have known that the armband was such a flop of an idea," Sota said with a smile.

"No... It's not that... I promised you that I wouldn't interfere with them and I did..." Kaede worried about what he would say.

Sota didn't lose his smile and he said, "Well from what you tell me, you had no choice! I should have reminded you about how stubborn both my sister and InuYasha were."

Kaede was surprised at how easy-going her uncle was about the whole situation.

"So you're... not upset?" Kaede asked.

Sota laughed and said, "Not at all... Besides... There's probably more things that I didn't tell you before you left."

Kaede's eyes grew and she asked, "Like what?"

"Well, there's probably the fact that I never told you that Kagome and InuYasha told me about you from when you visited them in the past," Sota said.

Kaede was shocked, indeed to know this.

"And you didn't bother to tell me any of this?!" Kaede was a little angry.

"I didn't want to change anything. Besides, they never actually told me how everything ended up," Sota replied.

"They didn't? Well why the hell not?! That would have been helpful of them!" Kaede said angrily.

"Well I did make it a point to ask, but every time that I did, they would become silent or change the subject," he thought back on the subject.

"Well _that_ gives me a lot to look forward too..." Kaede said frustrated.

Sota looked around and then asked, "Where did the fox go?"

Kaede looked up at him and said, "You mean Shippo? I think he went out to make sure that there wasn't anything suspicious in the area. Actually, I believe that he's gone somewhere to sulk."

"Why is that?" Rin asked.

"Well, I have a few ideas as to why, but I think the main reason is that he's worried that he's wrong about there being a danger that I've returned," Kaede said proudly.

"That fool! A scrawney demon such as himself shouldn't be out on his own in this territory!" Jaken commented.

"Yeah, I think I'll go and look for him. I'll be back soon!" Kaede said as she stood and sprinted off in the direction that Shippo had gone earlier.

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Kagome slowly awoke, and InuYasha became aware of this.

"Kagome?" InuYasha looked her over as she opened her eyes.

"Inu...Yasha... What happened?" the girl asked.

"You're sick. You have a little bit of a fever but you should be okay. Just let yourself rest, okay?" InuYasha explained to her.

"Is...Is she back?" Kagome asked, with hope in her voice.

InuYasha looked down at the ground and away from Kagome's eyes.

"You just worry about recovering. You have more than yourself to worry about right now, remember?"

Kagome's hopeful voice turned into a smaller, worried tone.

"Yeah, I guess..." she said as she fell back to sleep.

_"We're running out of time... And so is Kagome... Don't you die on me! We haven't made it this far in life for you to do this to me now!"_ InuYasha thought with his hopes starting to dim.

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Kaede sprinted through the small forest until she came to a quarry. Looking around, she could smell Shippo, but couldn't see him.

"What are you doing out here alone?!" a boy's voice shot out.

Kaede looked to the top of the waterfall in the quarry and smiled.

"So there you are! I've been looking for you! Everyone was wondering what had happened to you!" Kaede watched as Shippo jumped down from the quarry and landed in front of her.

He didn't say a word, he just looked at her. As if he wanted to scold her but didn't know how much good it would have done.

"So what _exactly_ are you doing so far out here anyway?" Kaede asked.

"...Thinking..." Shippo replied turning towards the water of the quarry.

Kaede was sure that he was upset with her. She walked to him and looked over the beauty of the water. The afternoon sun shot several rays of sunshine down into the water and onto the waterfall. Every little drop of water that bounced off of the surface where the waterfall clashed into the small lake reflected the light. They could also see the fish shooting through the water like bolts of lightning.

"It's so pretty here... It hasn't been that way in a long time..." Kaede said as she turned to face Shippo.

"Do you see it?" she asked.

Shippo was a little confused about what she was talking about.

"The quarry?" he asked.

Kaede nodded and looked back towards the scenery.

"...We should leave here soon..." Kaede said out of nowhere.

Shippo turned to her in surprise and she looked at him and smiled.

"I have to get back to the past so I can save all of this... Save all of you!" she said still smiling.

Shippo's worried looks turned into happy ones as he nodded and said, "Let's go now... I'd feel a lot better if we did."

Kaede understood his worry and said, "Sure. Let's get some lunch first and then we'll go, okay?"

Shippo smiled big and nodded. Before they left the quarry, they heard loud "booms" from the direction that Sota and the other two were.

"...Sota!" Kaede yelled as she sprinted off quickly, Shippo following her.

Arriving at the cottage, Kaede saw Rin and Jaken hiding behind the small house, and Sota out in the front of it holding a small weapon up at another Naraku puppet.

"Ha! This won't be much of a challenge!" Kaede said as she began to jump at the puppet.

"IRON REAVER SOUL - " Kaede jumped forward to attack the puppet, but just then another puppet appeared and knocked her to the side.

"Kaede!" Shippo shouted as he jumped to her uncle and pulled him away from the scene.

The girl landed several hundred feet away but managed to get right back up to her feet and looked at what was in front of her.

"There's... There's four of those puppets!" The girl stared at the Naraku-created puppets and sprinted towards her friends.

"Shippo!" she shouted as she landed nearby and picked up her Tetsusaiga.

"Kaede! Are you all right?" Sota asked when he saw his niece.

"Shippo, get them out of here..." Kaede said looking back at them out of the corner of her eye.

"What?! No way! You're going with them and I'll stay and distract the demon!" Shippo said angrily as he approached the girl.

"No!" Kaede yelled as she turned to him quickly.

Shippo stopped in his tracks at the girls' glare.

"They need to be safe Shippo! Can I trust you with that?!" Kaede yelled to the boy.

Shippo didn't know what to think exactly. That was until Sota spoke up, "Shippo! We'll be okay! Just help Kaede!"

The three escaped into the forest and Shippo watched as they left safely and then turned to the battle.

Kaede scoffed and took off towards one of the puppets, swinging the wind scar at one, and being knocked the ground again by another.

Shippo turned back towards the fight and said, "Right! I'm going to protect you whether or not you want to be protected Kaede!"

The boy ran at the demons and yelled, "FOX FIRE!" as he sprayed them with the blue flames, and then landed next to Kaede who had just gotten back up to her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked looking over her.

"I'm fine! If you're going to help, then help!" She said as she lept up and began to attack one of the puppets.

Just as another puppet was going to strike at the girl, Shippo lept up at the second demon and slashed off it's arm with his claws, enabling Kaede to destroy the first demon with her wind scar. They both landed near each other and grinned at one another.

"Let's just keep this up and they'll be gone in no time!" Kaede said eagerly.

Shippo nodded and watched as Kaede jumped at the puppets again and Shippo followed close behind. Kaede swung with her Wind Scar technique and Shippo, once again, deflected the attack that the other puppets were going to unleash upon the girl. The sword had then destroyed a second demon puppet.

"Damn you!" one of the Naraku doubles shouted as Kaede and Shippo made it to the ground and turned back towards them.

Kaede scoffed and said, "What's the matter? Having a little trouble keeping up?"

"You fools! Even if you manage to kill us, you'll never be able to destroy the _real_ Naraku!" One of the puppets said while it shot it's arms at Kaede.

Shippo jumped in the way and tore the arms to shreds, jumping up at the demon and swinging his claws at it. Kaede took the opporitunity and jumped up at the other demon, swinging her sword.

Shippo deflected the other attack attempts on him from the demon and tore through it. The demon did just as the other puppets did, and turned into a small wooden puppet, which split into two as it hit the ground. Shippo landed on the ground near it and smiled, as he realized that the threat was over. Just then, it became very quiet, and the smell of blood hit the boy's nose. It was too familiar to be a good thing. The boy turned and saw a most horrible sight indeed.

The demon puppet had shot out several arms at the demon woman, and all of them had managed to run her through. Shippo's eyes grew wide as he could feel his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. There was one small root through her stomach, two in her chest, one of which knicked her heart, and one through the base of her neck.

"K...K...KAEDE!" The boy shouted as the roots upbruptly tore back out of the girl's body and she fell.

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Chapter Teaser!

Shippo landed back on the ground and stared at ashes that fell from where the demon puppet had been. He then turned to see that Kaede was still struggling with her breathing. He then ran to her side and picked her hand back up, holding it tightly.

Kaede's eyes stared up at him, aknowledging his fears. She was dying... He stayed with her for a few more seconds trying to think of ways to save her. Just as he was hoping that she would stay alive, Kaede drew her last breath and then the life drained out of her eyes and her head turned to the side.

Shippo's heart sank deeper within his stomach as he dropped her hand and yelled at her, "No... NO! You're not going to die! You're not going to die!"


	28. Revival

Hey everyone! I honestly don't mean to keep you all waiting so long, but here's my next update! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

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Shippo ran and caught the girl just before she hit the ground. He ran to the cottage and placed her down on the ground easily.

Grabbing her right hand and holding it tightly, Shippo's eyes filled with tears and he said, "Hold on... Just hold on... Please!"

Kaede's body was covered with blood, and she struggled for every breath, blood filling her lungs. She tried to talk, but it only caused her to cough up more and more blood.

"No! Don't try to talk! Just hang in there for me, please!" Shippo pleaded.

The demon puppet moved towards the two and laughed evilly.

"Do not worry, she _will_ die!" the puppet said in a harsh tone.

Shippo realized what he had to do. He gently put Kaede's hand back down and turned to face the demon.

"You're...going...TO PAY!" The fox demon jumped up at the puppet, and full of rage he yelled, "FOX FIRE!"

The fire grew to enormous per portions which engulfed the entire puppet and the heat grew in intensity, which singed the puppet completely into nothing but ash. Shippo had destroyed the final demon puppet.

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Naraku stared at the four wooden shikigami dolls and watched them one by one be destroyed. After the fourth one was lost he looked up at Kagura, who was staring out of one of the castle windows.

"Kagura..." he said.

She turned and looked at him with her beady, red eyes staring into his.

"It seems as though InuYasha's daughter has died... Make sure to spread the word..." he ordered.

Kagura looked at him with a shocked facial expression.

_"How could she have died?! She was supposed to be stronger than that!"_ Kagura thought just before she nodded and flew away on her feather.

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Shippo landed back on the ground and stared at ashes that fell from where the demon puppet had been. He then turned to see that Kaede was still struggling with her breathing. He then ran to her side and picked her hand back up, holding it tightly.

Kaede's eyes stared up at him, acknowledging his fears. She was dying... He stayed with her for a few more seconds trying to think of ways to save her. Just as he was hoping that she would stay alive, Kaede drew her last breath and then the life drained out of her eyes and her head turned to the side.

Shippo's heart sank deeper within his stomach as he dropped her hand and yelled at her, "No... NO! You're not going to die! You're not going to die!"

The fox demon began to pump away at the girl's chest, hoping to jumpstart her heart. He had seen Kagome do this once before when she was trying to revive a human who had been attacked by a demon and afterwards asked her what it was that she had done to help the man.

"Don't be stupid and die!" he shouted again.

"No! You promised me that you wouldn't die, and I'm not going to let you break that promise! You're going to survive whether or not you want to! So quit trying to die and WAKE UP!" Shippo just continued to pump at the girl's chest until his tears started to stream from his eyes.

Stopping the palpitations, Shippo put both of his hands on either side of the girl's head, leaned down to one side of her head and whispered, "You can't die because... because I care too much for you... and you're not allowed to break my heart like this... not while I'm around!"

Sitting back up Shippo began to pound his fist against the girl's chest, hoping that harder pumps would help. When he stopped for a short second he noticed that the girl had gone completely pale... She was gone this time... He picked her up and held her body tightly close to his.

"KAEDE!" the boy yelled up in the air.

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It was late at night, and everyone was asleep in old Kaede's hut. That is except for InuYasha, who kept a vigilant watch over his love. He decided to leave for a moment to go to the well and check on things and as he walked out of the hut he began his sprint off to the well.

As the demon approached the well he could smell the familiar scent of the wind sorceress. Which made his blood boil just enough to sprint faster and faster until he had made it to the lip of the well. Looking around he didn't see anything.

"InuYasha..." the woman's voice spoke suddenly and the boy turned and saw her looking at him in despair.

"What do _you _want, Kagura!" InuYasha asked in a furious tone as he drew out his Tetsusaiga.

"Don't bother, I'm not here to fight you... I'm here on Naraku's orders to tell you something..." she said in a low-toned voice.

"What is it then?!" he asked.

"... The woman you have been traveling with... the priestess who has the scent of a demon..."

InuYasha looked at her in shock and asked, "What do _you_ know about her?!"

Kagura's eyes shifted away from his and she said, "She's dead..."

InuYasha lowered his sword to the ground looking at the woman in an even bigger shock than before and then raised the sword once more.

"You don't know what you're talking about! She's not even anywhere near here!" The dog demon realized that Kagura couldn't have known that Kaede was dead because she didn't know about her being back in her own era.

"I know... She went back to her own time... That's how I know..." Kagura then threw her feather up in the air and flew off, leaving InuYasha buried in terror.

_"What?! But... How could she have known about that?!"_ InuYasha's heart raced as well as his mind as he looked down into the well.

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It had been several hours since Kaede's death, and Sota, Rin and Jaken had decided to return to the cottage to see what had happened. As they approached, Sota noticed something.

"Wait a minute... What's that sound?" he asked as the other two strained to listen.

As they approached a little closer they could clearly hear the noise. It was the sound of a man crying. The loud squeals and sobs rang out through the area. As they walked into the clearing, they could see Shippo kneeling on the ground, holding Kaede and rocking back and forth.

"Shippo? Kaede?" Sota asked as they approached the two.

As Sota walked around to the front of Shippo and saw the bloody mess of his niece.

"Kaede?!" he yelled as he sat down in front of Shippo, looking over the girl's wounds.

"What happened?!" Sota asked.

In between sobs, Shippo said, "Naraku... puppet... killed... Kaede!"

Rin stared down at the girl who's face was a pale white. She reached down and touched her cheek, and felt it's loss of warmth.

"She's... she's dead!" Rin said shocked.

Rin's eyes filled with tears and she ran into the cottage. Jaken looked over the girl as he approached her.

"She was destroyed?! This can't be good... Now Naraku will rule all era's!" The imp said angrily.

"Shut up!" Shippo shouted at Jaken, which caused the imp to fall back.

Sota pulled up one of the girl's hands to his face and rubbed it quickly in order to try and bring back the heat to her body.

"She can't be... This just... I can't deal with this... she was the only family that I had left..." Sota didn't know if he could handle another death...

"You will not lose your family Sota..." Rin said firmly as she appeared from the cottage and walked to the, still sobbing, Shippo and the mourning Sota.

Sota and Shippo looked up at Rin from teary eyes and saw that she was holding something in a large cloth.

"What do you mean?" Sota asked in a small voice.

Rin knelt down to the two men and uncovered the cloth.

Shippo stopped sobbing abruptly and his eyes grew wide.

"What is that?" Sota asked completely clueless.

"It's... It's the Tenseiga!" Shippo yelled with a glimmer of hope.

"For some reason, Lord Sesshomaru gave this to me the day that he died. He told me that I would know who to give this to... Shippo, I cannot use this sword because I am human... But _you_ may be able to make some use out of it," Rin explained.

Shippo's eyes were still wide in amazement. He just barely managed to break himself out of this dazed state and he slowly and gently laid Kaede's body down on the ground and accepted the sword from Rin. Pulling it from it's sheath, Shippo held the sword up and saw the blue aura form around it. His puffy, red eyes looked down to Kaede and saw several small, strange demons around her body, looking as if they were feeding off of her soul.

"Stand back..." Shippo said firmly.

Sota, Rin and Jaken stood back as Shippo focused on the girl and then stepped forward, slicing away at the demons that surrounded her body. As soon as he saw the demons disappear, he knelt back down over Kaede and listened. The others just stood still and waited. Shippo began to give up on the idea that Kaede could have been brought back to life after being dead for so long, and then he heard it...

_"Buh-Bump...Buh-Bump..."_

Shippo jumped in shock which scared the others. The fox demon picked up Kaede and cradled her in his arms.

"Open your eyes... Wake up and open your eyes... Please!" Shippo whispered into her ear.

Kaede mumbled and her eyes slowly opened. Her golden amber-colored eyes opened just a little until Shippo could see every part of them. Kaede looked around for a moment before laying her eyes on Shippo's red face. She only wondered what was going on until she could smell her blood-soaked kimono. Her blood mixed with... something salty? What was that smell? She looked back up at Shippo's face and saw his eyes. They were red and puffy.

_"Tears? Is that what I smell all over me? Did Shippo cry... for me?"_ Kaede thought to herself.

"Hey... Talk to me..." Shippo pleaded as he gave her a gentle shake. He worried that her straying eyes meant that she hadn't totally come back to her senses.

"...Hey there..." Kaede said in a small, strained voice.

Shippo laughed and hugged her tightly and said, "Hey, yourself!"

Kaede looked down and saw the Tenseiga on the ground and instantly knew what had happened. She smiled and reached up to hug Shippo back.

Sota and Rin smiled with tears welling up in their eyes. Tears of happiness from knowing that the girl was alive and well again. Jaken sighed in relief knowing that the future had a chance at changing.

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Back in the past, after pacing back and forth by the well, InuYasha had finally decided to go back to the old woman's hut and wait by Kagome. When he arrived he saw that everyone was still asleep except for his love. She was sitting upright, the color in her face had returned.

"Kagome?" InuYasha whispered as he sat down next to her.

"How... How are you feeling?" he asked.

"It's weird but... I feel much better. I don't feel sick, and for some reason, my worry has gone," she said with a smile.

InuYasha took Kagome's hand and held it tightly. Her worry may have gone, but his own worry would remain, so long as he knew that their daughter had died.

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Chapter Teaser!

"Hmm? You mean Kaede?" Shippo realized.

"Yes, InuYasha and Kagome's daughter!" Myoga said to make his point.

"Well then, why didn't you say something then either?!" Shippo was beginning to get frustrated.

"I was going to! But then when you two started to battle, and you were knocked unconscious, I saw something... Something very dangerous indeed.." the flea began to explain.

"We defeated the demon, Myoga! It was safe to come out and tell us that you were there afterwards!" Shippo pointed out.

"It was not the demon that I feared... It was Kaede.." Myoga finally said.


	29. Myoga's fear

Hey all! Bet you thought that I was giving up on this one huh? Well here's the next chapter! Thank you for your continuing reviews!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do no own Inuyasha.

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It was early the next morning and Shippo, as well as Kaede had already made the long trek back to the shrine. After running the whole way there, they caught their breaths as they slowly made their way across the courtyard. They walked to the well and stood at it's lip.

Kaede and Shippo faced each other and smiled.

"Well, I guess I'll be going now," Kaede said sighing.

Shippo chuckled and grabbed the girl bringing her body close to his.

"It will only be for a while... And I'll know for a fact that you'll be safer there than you were here," Shippo said quietly.

"Hey, stop that! I was never in any danger! You were here to protect me... Just like you said you'd do!" Kaede pointed out.

"Oh! Before I forget, I want you to take this with you," Shippo pulled away and untied the Tenseiga from around his waist.

As he handed Kaede the sword she pushed it away.

"No...You should take it..." she insisted.

Shippo started to get frustrated with the stubborn girl and shoved it back towards her.

"You'll be safe if you keep this with you!" he scolded.

"There's no reason for me to take this, when I'll be surrounded by the people who will keep me safe. Besides, If you don't take this, then the next time you guys are attacked, there's a chance that none of you will live... Please, just keep it here. There's no need to have more than one of these in the past if it doesn't bring the future much good," Kaede pleaded.

Shippo sighed and retied the sword around his waist saying, "You know I'd feel even _better_ if you weren't so stubborn all the time..."

Kaede hugged Shippo tightly and he hugged her back just as tight.

"Don't you go dying on me now..." Shippo said as he reluctantly let go of the girl.

Kaede took out her small remote and programmed it again. The well did its usual thing and lit up a bright orange color. The girl then placed the remote back in her zipped pocket and looked up at Shippo.

"See you in the past!" she said as she stood on the edge, then jumping into the well, disappearing.

Shippo looked over the edge and said, "You can do it Kaede... You can save us! All of us!"

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"We're glad to see that you're feeling better Kagome," Sango said cheerfully.

"Yeah! We were worried for a little while!" young Shippo said as he bit into his breakfast.

"What's wrong InuYasha?" Miroku asked.

InuYasha had debated as to whether or not he should tell them what Kagura had told him the previous night.

"I think I need to tell you guys something... Something important..." he began.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked to InuYasha.

"Last night... I went to the well and..."

"What is it InuYasha?" Kagome asked.

"Well... I-"

"Hi guys!" A cheerful Kaede walked into the hut.

"Kaede! We're so glad that you've returned!" Miroku said with a bright smile.

InuYasha stood up quickly and rushed over to the girl, looking her over.

"What's his deal?" Kaede asked the others.

"Who knows? He's been a pain ever since you left!" young Shippo commented.

InuYasha gave the young fox demon a knock on the head and asked, "What was that?!"

Kaede looked to the group and said, "Ah, it's good to be back!"

Everyone besides Shippo and InuYasha began to laugh watching the two squabble.

"So did you find what you were looking for Kaede?" Kagome asked happily.

Kaede set her bag down and then sat herself down for a good rest.

"Well yes, and it seems as though there are already changes in the future," Kaede replied.

"What kind of changes?" Sango asked.

"Well it's kind of a long story..." Kaede looked around at the others who had all stopped to gaze at her.

"Well, it looks like the sun has just come up, so we have plenty of time to listen!" Miroku said cheerfully.

Kaede sighed and said, "Well, okay.. So here's what happened..."

Kaede explained her story from beginning to end, leaving out the part where she had been killed by one of Naraku's puppets, and revived by the older version of Shippo with the Tenseiga.

"So... Sota is okay?" Kagome asked.

Kaede smiled and said, "Yeah, he's fine. Don't worry."

"Why, Kaede?" InuYasha said in a low growl.

They all looked to him and Kaede asked, "Why what?"

"Why didn't you just tell us that Naraku had joined forces with himself here... And why didn't you tell us that Kagura had come to tell you?..."

Kaede looked away.

"It could have been a trap! You could have been killed and we would never have known!" InuYasha scolded.

_"Well then it wouldn't have been the first time..."_ Kaede thought to herself.

"I don't see what the big deal is... I trusted my instincts and here I am!" Kaede said frustrated.

"All that we're asking is that you allow us to help you when needed. And for you not to be so quick to need to do things on your own," Miroku added.

Kaede looked up and smiled saying, "Well I'm not going to promise anything but... I promise that I'll try."

"That's all that we ask," Kagome said in a quiet, but happy voice.

"But you all have to promise me something as well! Stop treating me like if I have five minutes to myself that I need someone to hold my hand, all right?" The girl pleaded.

"Well we're not going to promise anything, but we'll try," InuYasha mocked with a sarcastic voice and a half smile.

Kaede sighed and asked, "So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?"

"Things were actually pretty mild actually. It was good for recuperation for our quest," Miroku replied.

"So are we going to start on our quest today or wait?" Kaede asked.

"Yeah! Let's go already! We're running out of time to do kill Naraku!" InuYasha agreed and insisted.

"Well then, why don't I go to the river and fill up our canteens with some water," Kagome said rummaging through her bag for some bottles.

"I'll go with you!" Shippo said happily.

"Me too, come on Kirara!" Sango said with a smile.

Miroku saw Sango leaving and then asked, "Are you coming you two?"

Kaede looked at him and said, "No, I traveled quite a bit today so I'll just sit for a while."

"InuYasha?" Miroku then looked to.

"I'll stay here until you guys come back," he replied.

As the others strayed away from the hut, Kaede knew that something was up with her father.

"Can I ask you something?" InuYasha said suddenly during the long silence.

Kaede looked up at him and asked, "What is it?"

"Why does your kimono reek of your blood?" he said finally.

Kaede was shocked to hear him ask this question. Hadn't she washed her kimono well enough to hide the odor of her blood?

"But... I... What?" she asked, trying to think of a way out of this.

"Your kimono, it smells like you've soaked it in your blood, and lots of it... Why is that?" he asked again, looking up at her this time.

Kaede knew, full well, that lying to InuYasha was a bit hard to do.

"But I thought that... I cleaned it so that you couldn't smell it!" she said with a little trouble.

InuYasha gave a sarcastic smile and said, "You may have cleaned it to where _you_ can't smell it anymore because you're already used to the scent of your own blood. But it pierced my nose as you entered the hut. You can't hide it from anyone but yourself. Now tell me... Why do you smell this way?"

Kaede looked down at the ground and said, "I guess it's... hard to explain. A lot happened in the few days that I was gone."

"Well then, start from the beginning, and this time why don't you fill me in on _all_ of the facts?" he demanded.

"Naraku sent many demon puppets to find me in the future, and I ran into all of them... I took a few hits, but I'm fine..." she explained.

"Don't try and fool me! Tell me what _really_ happened!" his frustration was getting enormous.

"And why don't you start with why a male demon scent is on you as well?!" he finally blurted out.

Kaede was truly shocked at this comment. Really, more shocked at the comment than she was shocked at the idea of knowing that he could smell all of the scents on her.

"That male _demon_ that you speak of... is Shippo... The older version of him..." Kaede finally decided to tell him.

"What?! I thought it smelled familiar... What else?" the boy continued to press on with his questions.

"I did more than take just a few hits... I was killed..." she explained.

"Killed?! You were killed and you failed to mention that to us?!" InuYasha didn't quite know how it was that he wanted to ring the girl's neck yet, so he waited for the rest of the story.

"Yeah... Shippo revived me though... He saved me..." she added quietly.

InuYasha was unsure how the fox demon had managed to revive the girl from death.

"Don't ask..." she said suddenly. She didn't want him to ask about how the boy revived her because then she would have to explain about the Tenseiga, and how they ended up with it.

InuYasha looked up at the girl, who was still staring at the ground and asked, "Ask what?"

"Can we just leave it as, I died, and he saved me?" she asked in a frightened tone.

InuYasha looked at the girl, who had her eyes closed and her heart beating rapidly. He smiled a true smile and said, "Hey... It's okay... It's like what you said earlier, sometimes it's best that we don't always know everything about the future, right?"

Kaede looked up at him surprised. Was he really willing to not ask another word of her ordeal? She then relaxed her facial expressions and nodded.

"We're back!" young Shippo announced as he walked in the door carrying large bottles of water.

Kagome and the others walked in as well and she put the bottles in her bag and closed it up.

"Are we all ready?" Kagome asked in a confident tone.

Kaede and InuYasha stood up along with the others and they each nodded.

"Let's be off then!" Miroku said cheerfully as he and the others walked out into the bright sunlight of the past.

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Older Shippo was sitting outside of the cottage that Sota, Rin and Jaken were also residing in. He sat right outside the door with his arms crossed and his eyes shut. He wore the same look on his face that InuYasha would always have when he was waiting for Kagome to return from the present. As the quiet pastures calmed the boy, he felt a small prick on his face and quickly slapped at it.

"Oh Shippo, how could you?! After all of these years!" the voice of a small flea demon fell upon Shippo's ears.

"Hmm?" Shippo opened his hand as the demon fell into his palm.

"Myoga? Is that really you?" the fox stared down at the flattened demon in his palm.

"Shippo! I thought that your tasty blood was familiar!" Myoga said happily as his little body reformed into it's rightful shape.

"How did you get here?" the boy asked.

"I traveled on your furry tail when you traveled through the well back to this time period, but I had no idea it was you!" the flea answered.

"I traveled back to this time, days ago, why didn't you make yourself known then?" Shippo asked confused.

"Like yourself, I was merely taking in the surroundings of where we had gone, and I didn't realize that it was you until a certain young girl arrived here as well!" he replied.

"Hmm? You mean Kaede?" Shippo realized.

"Yes, InuYasha and Kagome's daughter!" Myoga said to make his point.

"Well then, why didn't you say something then either?!" Shippo was beginning to get frustrated.

"I was going to! But then when you two started to battle, and you were knocked unconscious, I saw something... Something very dangerous indeed.." the flea began to explain.

"We defeated the demon, Myoga! It was safe to come out and tell us that you were there afterwards!" Shippo pointed out.

"It was not the demon that I feared... It was Kaede.." Myoga finally said.

"Kaede? But why?" Shippo asked in a worried tone.

"She became very angry at the demon after watching you become harmed by it -" Myoga explained.

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-Flashback-

"S-Shippo!" she yelled as she landed on the ground, and he next to her.

Kaede turned to him and he looked up at her and gritted his teeth.

"I...thought I told...you to... get the hell... out of...here..." he said just before he passed out.

Kaede's anger grew in intensity. Her eyes flashed red for a moment as she turned to the demon, who was coming back at them.

"I said... YOU'RE GOING DOWN!" Kaede swung her sword again and yelled, "BACKLASH WAVE!"

The intensity of the backlash wave was too much for the demon and it was smothered under the technique, completely destroying it.

-End Flashback-

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"Her eyes flashed red? So what does that mean?" Shippo asked confused.

"Do you remember being in the past with her? Even as a child you should remember the day that she had transformed into a full demon, just as Lord InuYasha had," Myoga asked.

"Oh yeah! I remember that! She tried very hard to fight against being in that state and InuYasha managed to get her to touch the Tetsusaiga and transform her back into a half demon," Shippo suddenly remembered.

"You are mistaken Shippo... She is _not_ a half demon. Her demon blood was enhanced by Kagome's strong spiritual powers. She the closest thing to a full blooded demon that someone with human in their blood could possibly come to. She's a one-of-a-kind demon. The only demon that can perform spiritual powers without purifying herself to death," Myoga explained.

"She's... the only one?" Shippo suddenly realized that this was true. He had never thought about it but it was a strange situation indeed.

"Thinking about that, Myoga, how exactly _did_ Kaede survive something like that? I mean, a demon with spiritual powers really should have died in the womb, right?" Shippo asked, now completely confused.

"That's what confuses me as well. I am glad that she turned out the way she did, but something like this should not have been able to take place at all! She is truly her own miracle!" Myoga seemed just as confused about this as Shippo did.

"So what happened when you saw her eyes flash red?" Shippo wanted to know the rest of the story.

"Well I'm not sure, but I think that just for a moment, Kaede was floating between her full demon mode, and her full priestess abilities!" Myoga said, confusing Shippo even more.

"Floating? But if she had transformed into a full demon, she would have lost all self control... And she didn't!" Shippo tried to make sense of all of this.

"Exactly... For a moment... Kaede knew just exactly how to control _both_ sides of her being... You see, when Lord InuYasha transforms, he has no choice but to succumb to his full demon part. A person with extraordinary spiritual powers, like Kagome, would have to pull him out of this state. But Kaede has both the spiritual and demon parts of herself working at all times. Which is why she was fighting so hard not to attack your group. She was fighting this side of herself because she couldn't find the medium between these two elements," Myoga added.

"So if you knew that Kaede could control these sides of her, why were you afraid?" Shippo wasn't sure how to make any of this out yet.

"Because... with a power like that... she could have gone either way... She could have permanently transformed into a full blooded human with enormous spiritual powers, or... She could have permanently transformed into a full demon and killed us all..."

"What?!" Shippo realized just what Myoga was speaking of.

Shippo stood up quickly and ran into the cottage yelling, "Sota! Sota!"

Kaede's uncle appeared tired as he shot out of his bed and ran to the fox demon.

"Shippo! What is it?!" he yelled.

"I need you to do something for me!" Shippo started in a frantic tone of voice.

"What is it already?!" Sota yelled frustrated.

"I need to know how long it would take for you to create another one of those remotes that Kaede has!" the fox demon yelled frantically.

Sota looked at the fox confused. What did he need one of _those_ for? 

----------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Teaser!

InuYasha had traveled all around within a couple of miles of the village and still hadn't seen one sign of a demon or even a scent of a spider.

"This is all just a big waste of time... Why did I even bother?!" 

About to turn back to the village, InuYasha finally caught a small scent. 

"Huh? What was that? Was that the scent of a spider demon?"

He then turned towards the scent and went after it.


	30. Spider Demons!

Hey all! Thank you for your continuing interest in my story! Here's an upate! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't Inuyasha, just the OC, Kaede.

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The group had been traveling for a couple of hours, and they were following a new lead about a demon terrorizing a village, possibly using a jewel shard to strengthen it's power.

"So what kind of demon was it supposed to be?" InuYasha asked.

"I think they said that it was some sort of insect demon but they weren't sure exactly," Kagome replied wondering as well.

"Well it doesn't sound like to big of a threat... Still any demon with a jewel shard will be of interest to us," Miroku commented.

"Is that the village?" Sango asked as they walked over a hill and saw the village from where they stood.

There didn't seem to be anyone who acted frantic or scared of any threat and this confused the travelers.

"Everyone seems rather calm," Kaede said looking around the village as they entered it.

"Yeah, you'd think that if there was a demon threat that they would at least be bunkered down in their houses or grouped together at a shrine," Sango added.

"Excuse me, sir," Kagome started as she approached an elder man, "Are there any demons threatening your village?" she asked in a surprisingly happy tone for such a question.

"Demons? Well yes, we had the threat of demons, but that was weeks ago, we haven't had a demon in the village in quite some time!" The man answered.

"Oh, I see. Thanks," Kagome turned back to the others.

"So what now?" Miroku asked.

"I guess we just continue on our way through the village and keep searching," InuYasha said frustrated.

Kaede was looking around the village and noticed something strange hanging off of the roof of a house.

"What's that?" she said as she walked over to it and looked up.

"What is it Kaede?" Kagome asked.

The girl smelt the substance and said, "It sort of smells like spider demons."

"I thought I recognized that odor!" InuYasha snapped into realization.

"Spiders?! Oh great, those things are so creepy!" Kagome said with a shiver.

"A spider demon isn't much of a threat, but one with a jewel shard would be a little more challenging," Miroku thought aloud.

"Maybe we better take a look around the inside of this village and around the outside of it. We could find more clues that way," Sango suggested.

"Fine with me, you guys stay here in the village and I'll go look around the area," InuYasha ordered.

"No way! I'd like to get a chance to spread out and look too!" Kaede interrupted.

"We may need your nose here, Kaede. You would probably be able to smell the scent of a spider demon faster than we could sense one," Miroku tried to reason with the girl.

"But-" the girl began.

"Just stay here!" InuYasha said as he jumped away.

Kaede grumbled but complied as she followed the others throughout the village.

-------------------------------------------

"Three days?!" older Shippo complained.

"Well most of my tools and things were at another safe house of ours and we were forced out of there a few days ago. I don't have everything I need, here, to get the job done quickly," Sota said as he looked over some of his tools and materials.

"Well, what if I went and got them for you?" Shippo asked.

"I went back for them after the attacks and didn't find much. I'm sorry Shippo, but there's not much I can do about it. I'll have to make one from scratch," Sota said as he turned to his workstation and began construction.

"What's this about anyway? Why do you need to get to the past so badly?" Sota asked.

"Well, I'm not sure yet, but I'm afraid that everyone there could be in trouble," Shippo said with a frown.

Sota turned back around to Shippo and asked, "What do you mean? Is Kaede in trouble?" he asked with a worried look.

"Not so much Kaede as Kagome and InuYasha. I don't have time to explain it all, I just need you to make that remote as fast as you can!" Shippo demanded.

Trusting the fox, Sota turned back to his work and started on it as fast as he could go.

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InuYasha had traveled all around within a couple of miles of the village and still hadn't seen one sign of a demon or even a scent of a spider.

"This is all just a big waste of time... Why did I even bother?!"

About to turn back to the village, InuYasha finally caught a small scent.

"Huh? What was that? Was that the scent of a spider demon?"

He then turned towards the scent and went after it.

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"This is stupid, we're not going to find anything here..." Kaede remarked.

"Calm down, Kaede. You found a small piece of the web here in the village and it is something that we need to investigate. If we don't we could lose key information about the demons that once attacked this village," Miroku explained.

"Yeah, whatever... I don't smell a demon anymore..." Kaede scoffed.

-I guess there's no need to ask whether or not she's inherited her father's impatience or not…- Miroku thought to himself.

"Did you speak of the demons?" a man intervened in the conversation.

The group turned to him and Miroku spoke for them saying, "Yes, actually. We are in search of the demon that once plagued this village. Do you know anything of it?"

The man looked at them with an almost angry expression and said, "The villagers wish to believe that it never had once existed and that it would never again attack... Please, come inside and I will explain everything."

The group sat down inside the man's hut where he sat as well and looked to the ground as he began to explain.

"You see, for many months, this village had once been plagued by many different demons, but they all had stopped once the spider demons attacked as well," he began.

"So Kaede was correct! It was a spider's web that she had picked up on," Miroku said astonished.

"The nose on _my_ face isn't the same as the one on _yours_ monk..." Kaede scoffed again.

"Yes, well after the spider demons attacked, this village had lost many people. Either they had packed what little items they could carry and left in between attacks, or they were killed trying to leave. Then, about a month ago, some strange monk entered the village.

-Flashback-

"What ails you, my good people?" A monk entered the village and gave an old man some fresh water.

As he did this many of the other villagers gathered around him.

One of the villagers spoke as the old man drank the water down.

"Please, monk! Our town is plagued by spider demons! One of which possesses a shard of the sacred jewel and has become even more frightening!"

"Is that so? Then I shall vanquish these demons for you, but in return, you must pay me all of the riches of this village. Every piece of gold, to scraps of silver. Only then will I destroy the demons for you..."

-Flashback-  
_  
_"We gave him everything that we had. Our crops, our riches and spoils. Even our medicines! We were left with nothing! And if anyone refused to give up their belongings to this monk, then the guards of the village would hassle them until they felt threatened enough to do so! For if anyone refused, then he would not help us..."

"What a scam artist! I bet he was using the spider demons as a way of getting this village to give everything up!" Kagome said angrily.

"Yes, I knew this, as well as many others, but we were forced to give everything up or the other villagers threatened death upon us. We had no choice!"

"Well, I guess the demons have moved on. The monk kept his word, even if he did take all of their things," Sango thought aloud.

"The demons may have gone, but the threat still exists..." the man continued.

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked.

"This is not an uncommon story around this area. There have been many villages with the same plagues as this one, and all have ended up the same. Left without any food, or money. Some villages were then overrun by armies of bandits and many people have been killed! It is almost as if, it was supposed to happen in that way. I'm sure of it!"

"But what does all of this have to do with the spider demons still being a threat?" Kagome asked again.

"I believe that they nest near here. But I am too terrified to investigate on my own... They will return... and soon. I just know it!" the old man claimed.

"This is, indeed, a terrible fate. We must not allow this village to be plundered anymore," Miroku spoke.

"You're right... We must find the demons and destroy them, otherwise they will continue these terrible deeds," Sango agreed.

Kaede looked to the entrance of the hut quickly and suddenly.

"What is it Kaede?" Kagome asked.

"It's strange... Just for a moment I could smell a spider demon..." The girl jumped up from sitting and rushed outside and the others followed.

Kaede looked around outside and even smelt some of the villagers.

"What is this?! Who are you?!" the villagers became frightened by the demon girl's approach.

"I can smell it like it's right here but... I can't... smell it here!" Kaede said frustrated.

She then turned to a nearby forest and looked at it carefully. Then the girl turned back to the group and said, "I can sense the demon! I'll go after it, you guys stay here just in case the village is attacked!"

"Kaede! Wait!" Sango yelled.

Kaede managed to stop herself from roaming off and turned back to them, "What is it?"

"InuYasha is already out there, remember? We should all just wait here until he returns!" Kagome yelled.

Kaede sighed and said, "Look, I can't smell him anywhere near here, so I'm not going to wait until he gets back. If the demons move on before he gets back, then we won't find them again."

"Just give InuYasha some time to get back! We'll find the demons eventually!" Kagome tried to reason.

"Kaede... InuYasha would not be happy with you," Miroku pointed out.

Kaede was really fighting not just going out on her own. It's what she was used to doing. She wasn't used to people holding her back from going after any demon, and she didn't want to start being held back.

Kaede turned back towards the group and said, "Yeah, I know. I'll be right back, I promise!" and she took off.

"She's going to be a handful as a child..." Sango commented.

"Yeah, I'm starting to realize that," Kagome said as she sighed.

---------------------------------------------------

InuYasha had followed the scent of the spider demons for sometime but lost it.

"Damn! I could have sworn that it was right here! They keep moving and I can't tell exactly where they went!" he growled.

The smell suddenly appeared again in another direction and InuYasha turned to smell it.

"Damn! If they keep moving around like this, I'll _never_ be able to keep up! I'm getting tired of chasing these things around!"

He took out his Tetsusaiga and yelled, "WIND SCAR!"

Some of the nearby forest was torn apart and destroyed, and as everything cleared, InuYasha saw several spider demons, fleeing the scene.

"Ha! Don't think that you're getting away now!" he said as he sheathed the Tetsusaiga and ran off after them.

The scent moved away and the dog demon chased after it, running full speed.

----------------------------------------------

Kaede stopped following the scent of the demons and looked around.

"Did I just feel the ground shake? Something of that proportion could only have been caused by..."

As Kaede was thinking a very strong scent struck her nose and she forgot what it was that she was thinking about and turned back towards it.

"I've got to keep going otherwise I'll lose the scent and lose a shard of the jewel!" she said as she sprinted towards it.

The girl followed the scent until it became very strong, and after that she stopped outside of a wall of webbing.

"This must be their nest! If I can get through this web, then I can destroy them!"

She took out the Tetsusaiga and pointed it at the web. "ADAMANT BARRAGE!" she yelled as she swung the sword, Crystal shard shooting through the web, destroying the thick wall.

As soon as the wall was destroyed, Kaede looked through and saw spider demons everywhere!

"There must be thousands of them!" Kaede said aloud.

"More than you'll be able to count, I'm afraid!" a voice said shrewdly.

Spider demons began to attack the girl from behind her as they managed to knock the Tetsusaiga out of her hand and to the ground. Several of them grabbed a hold of her arms and legs as she struggled against them. Breaking the hold on the demons, Kaede tried to reach her sword but she was grabbed once more. More and more of the demons appeared.

"What the hell is going on here?! Why can't I break free from them?! And why can't I smell them anymore?!" Kaede was confused.

"So _this_ is the famous demon that he spoke of!" the voice came out of nowhere again and the demons turned the girl towards a shadowy figure.

"Who's there?!" Kaede shouted.

A very large demon appeared from the shadows. It must have been the leader of this group of spiders! Kaede suddenly sensed the jewel shard.

"So _you're_ the one with the jewel shard!" Kaede yelled with a smirk.

"You can sense the jewels just as the demon told us you could," the demon smirked as well.

"What demon?!" Kaede yelled.

"A few days ago, a demon approached us and told us a few thing about you... The demon was quite knowledgeable it seems..." it continued.

"What demon already?!" Kaede's frustration grew.

"He didn't say much about himself. Just that he was wanting to rid himself of you and his name... Naraku!" the demon continued.

"What?! Naraku set this up?! Damn! I should have known that this was a trap!" Kaede said as she began to struggle against the grip of the demons that had a hold on her.

"Yes, he said that if we caught you, that we could absorb your powers and become even stronger!" the demon said with great anticipation.

Kaede smiled up at the demon evilly and said, "You're not absorbing _anything_ from me!"

The girl broke free of all of the demon's grasps all at once and got down to the ground to grab the sword. She picked it up and turned to the demons, yelling, "WIND SCAR!"

Some of the demons were destroyed, but many more began to attack after the girl.

"I can't do this alone!" Kaede thought aloud as she swung her sword several more times, destroying one demon after another, as she quickly began to run back towards the village, the spiders on her heels.

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Chapter Teaser!

The spider demon chuckled and said, "Of course, you know the other one, he smells very similar to you!"

"You mean Inuyasha?" Kaede asked, now worried.

"Yes, I got word from some of my underlings, not long ago, they he had started to wage battle with them, and wasn't doing very well," the demon taunted.

Kaede held up her sword at the demon and then said with a smirk, "Well then I guess I'll just kill you, get your shard and go and help him won't I?!"


	31. Distraction to Escape

Hey all! Bwahaha! I have not yet disappeared into the dark regions of time and space! -Clears throat- I mean, uh... Here's an update!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha, I only own the figment that _is_ his fictional daughter which is totally made up... duh...

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It was now, nightfall, and Kagome and the others were still waiting for the return of Kaede and InuYasha.

"Where could they have gotten to that would take so long?" Kagome asked.

"Perhaps we should go searching for them ourselves?" Miroku pondered aloud.

"Yeah, I have a bad feeling about this. Kirara!" Sango commented and then called for the demon cat.

Kirara transformed and Sango and Miroku hopped aboard her.

"Kagome, stay here and wait for InuYasha and Kaede, and we'll go look for them," Miroku suggested.

"All right, you guys be careful!" Kagome said as she waved them off.

"So what do we do now?" young Shippo asked with tired eyes.

"Well, the man that we talked to earlier offered us a place to stay for the night, maybe we should take him up on his offer and wait this thing out. What do you say?" she asked cheerfully.

"Sounds good to me!" Shippo said jumping up into her arms.

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"I think Kaede went this way," Sango thought aloud.

"It's too bad that we don't have either InuYasha or Kaede with us, otherwise we would be able to have them found by scent alone," Miroku commented.

"Yeah, we'd probably cut our search time in half if we had either of them here to help... I wonder why they're taking so long though? Something's not right," Sango added

"I agree. We have to find them and fast. I have a bad feeling about this..." Miroku said sullenly.

"Can you sense any demonic aura's?" Sango asked as she and Miroku flew towards where Kaede had gone off to.

"I can't sense much... I believe that we should head in that direction! It seems that's where the aura is emanating from," he pointed in a northern direction.

"Right! Let's go Kirara!" Sango ordered and the demon cat as she shifted directions and flew off.

---------------------------------------------

Kaede was still running and destroying the spider demons that were trying to capture her. With every swing at another demon the girl was growing more and more frustrated. As she thought she would be escaping another demon would appear and would force her to slow down in order to destroy it and move on, then other demons would catch back up with her and she would have to battle with them.

Just as Kaede thought she was clear of the demons, she sensed a jewel shard move quickly in front of her and she came to a screeching halt.

"You are incredibly fast! But it did not help the half-demon, and it will not help you!" the demon yelled as it sprayed webbing at the girl.

Kaede managed to move quickly out of the path of the web and then asked, "What half-demon would you be referring to?!"

The spider demon chuckled and said, "Of course, you know the other one, he smells very similar to you!"

"You mean Inuyasha?" Kaede asked, now worried.

"Yes, I got word from some of my underlings, not long ago, they he had started to wage battle with them, and wasn't doing very well," the demon taunted.

Kaede held up her sword at the demon and then said with a smirk, "Well then I guess I'll just kill you, get your shard and go and help him won't I?!"

Kaede jumped up and swung her sword at the demon and it moved out of the way just barely, almost not able to move fast enough and was just barely sliced by the blade.

"Damn you! You won't get anything from me!" The demon jumped to attack at Kaede, shooting webbing at her and then preparing it's fangs to bite.

Kaede easily avoided the beast and then yelled, "Enough playing around! I don't have time for this!"

She jumped up in the air and drew her sword back and yelled, "WIND SCAR!"

The wave tore into the demon as it growled in anger and in pain.

"DAMN YOU!" the demon yelled as it's body was torn and shredded into nothing.

Kaede felt the aura of the other spider demons catching up to her and she quickly sheathed the Tetsusaiga and ran to grab the jewel shard. Before she took it upon herself to take the shard she stopped and noticed that it was tainted with the malice of pure evil.

"Naraku must have loaned him this shard. I better get it before one of his insects do!"

Kaede picked up the shard and with her spiritual energy, automatically purified it. It's light turned from pure black to a bright purple color and the girl put it away in her kimono. Just as she was ready to leave, the other demons managed to smash down on her almost from out of nowhere.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Kaede threw her clawed technique at the demons and managed to destroy them easily.

"See you later!" Kaede taunted as she took off in a new direction.

Before making a complete getaway, one of the spiders shot out some webbing and managed to entangle the girls' fast moving legs in it. Kaede tripped and at the speed she was running rolled onto the ground and slid on her stomach harshly until coming to an abrupt halt. She quickly sat up and started to slash at the webbing, destroying it enough to where she could almost get back up and run. As she did this, another demon approached and shot webbing at her left arm, encasing it in the thick, sticky substance.

"Damn!" Kaede yelled getting frustrated as she concentrated her efforts into getting the webbing off of her arm.

The demons stood together and all at once shot some of their web at the girl.

Kaede managed to move and miss being hit by most of it, but her legs were, once again, tangled and her arms were practically unable to move. One of the demons lunged forward from behind Kaede as she tried her best to shred the webbing. It bore it's fangs and moved in to bit the girl.

"HIRAIKOTSU!" a voice yelled as a giant boomerang came out of nowhere and chopped off the head of the demon that was about to bite Kaede.

"Sango! Miroku!" Kaede shouted happily as she saw them fly to her and land.

Sango and Kirara turned to the demons to battle them as Miroku ran to Kaede, who was now lying helplessly on the ground.

"Are you hurt?" Miroku asked as he began to use his staff to help him rip the web substance away from the girls' body.

"I'm fine, just help me get this crap off of me!" Kaede said frustrated.

Sango and Kirara were able to fend off the spiders long enough for Miroku to aid Kaede.

"I've never seen this many spider demons in the same area! How is this possible?!" Miroku asked as he prepared for battle alongside Sango.

"It's another trick of Naraku's! He's somehow multiplied these demons and enhanced them! You'll never defeat them all because it's almost as if there's a never-ending supply of them!" Kaede explained.

"Well we have to at least try!" Sango prepared her Hiraikotsu for another blow to another demon.

"We can't waste that kind of time!" Kaede yelled angrily.

"What's wrong Kaede?" Miroku asked.

"Dad might be in trouble and I have to find him! I can't stay here and play around with these damn things all year!" Kaede explained in frustration.

"What?! InuYasha is in trouble?" Sango became very worried.

"It's clear that we cannot stay here, Sango! We should leave quickly!" Miroku stated as he put his hand with the wind tunnel up.

"Right! Kirara!" Sango shouted.

The demon cat flew over to behind Sango and Miroku and the monk unraveled the beads from around his hand and released his wind tunnel. The spider demons flew into his hand by the thousands, and still did not stop.

"I told you that they're never going to end! You're not going to solve anything this way!" Kaede informed the two fighters.

Miroku let up on his wind tunnel and turned quickly to board Kirara along with Sango.

"Hurry Kaede! Get on before the demons reappear!" Sango demanded.

Kaede scoffed and said, "I can run on my own!"

Miroku hit Kaede on the head with his staff and pulled her aboard the back of the demon cat as they flew off into the night air. Just as they did, more spider demons appeared and engulfed the area that they had been in.

"What the hell was that for?!" Kaede shouted at the monk, rubbing her sore head.

"There are many things that we should discuss about your favoring to run away from us. But first we have to ask that you try and sense out InuYasha before we lose the chance to aid him!" Miroku barked orders.

Kaede was almost ready to knock the monk from there to next Tuesday but she realized that she was the only one that might have been able to locate her father. She lifted her head and used her keen sense of smell to inhale the air, at the same time trying to sense her father's own demonic aura.

"It's faint... Very faint! But I think I can sense him over there!" Kaede pointed.

"Are you sure?" Sango asked.

"Yeah, I could feel the ground shake earlier from that direction, and I believed it to be from his Wind Scar technique. It's definitely him!" Kaede reassured the two.

"Let's go then!" Sango ordered Kirara.

"Now then, we need to come to an understanding about something Kaede. We need to know if you plan on leaving us every time you want to fight a demon!" Miroku commented.

"Look, if this is about earlier-" Kaede began before she was once more hit over the head by Miroku's staff.

"This isn't about just one specific time. This is about you taking the chance to leave us whenever you please, leaving us and yourself at a possible disadvantage if a battle ensues. Every time that you take a chance like that, you're not only endangering yourself, you're worrying everyone else. And we can't focus on battling very well when we're wondering what's happening to you," Miroku explained.

Kaede's face was blood red with anger but she tried to stay calm.

"Then DON'T... Easily solved..." she seethed.

Miroku, once again, knocked the girl over the head with his staff, "That's not an option that we can afford unfortunately."

"WOULD YOU STOP WITH THE HITTING-ME-OVER-THE-HEAD-WITH-THE-STAFF THING!" Kaede screeched in agony, holding her bruised skull.

"Maybe you should take it easy on her Miroku," Sango suggested.

"Nonsense. She may be a woman, but she is also a demon, and she can afford a few bumps to the head easier than a human could. She'll be fine!" Miroku said cheerfully.

"I like Sango's idea!" Kaede whined.

"Sometimes brute force is the only way to make a point," Miroku explained.

"Look! I'm not dense like my dad is. I understand the consequences of what I do. But what you need to understand is that I've always just gone my own way, and that's the best way that I work," Kaede explained, still rubbing the bumps on her head.

"If you understand the consequences, then you already know how sick you had made Kagome when you left," Miroku added.

"Sick? What do you mean?" Kaede was a little confused, Kagome smelled okay when she got back so what could they mean?

"Yes, for the first two days that you were gone, she was so worried that she became very ill. She was lucky that the unborn version of you didn't fall ill as well, otherwise you may not be here with us right now," he continued.

"I...I didn't know that she was sick..." Kaede was shocked that no one had told her this.

"Yes... InuYasha spent most of his time at the well waiting, and Kagome worried herself into being ill. It took her until the night before you returned for her to be well again," Miroku explained softly.

Kaede didn't know how to justify a response to learning this bit of information. Her mind was shaken from thought when Sango announced, "Look! A large vast amounts of spider demons! That must be where the nest is!"

Kaede looked up and saw what Sango was pointing to.

"Yeah, I can definitely smell him now. InuYasha is right down there!" she said pointing to a portion of the web.

Standing up on Kirara's back, Kaede stood with her hand on the hilt of the Tetsusaiga.

"What are you doing?!" Miroku asked.

"You guys do what you have to do, and I'll do what I have to do!" she said as she dove off of the demon cat.

"Kaede!" Sango yelled after her.

"We've got our own problems right now, Sango!" Miroku said pointing at the band of spider demons ready to pounce at them.

Kaede landed in some of the trees, above which seemed to be where the bodies of the demons' victims were wrapped in webbing. She smelt around for a moment before looking over one that had a familiar scent. She jumped from the trees and landed next to the large ball of web.

"It almost looks as if there's more parts of a web attached to dad... That must be how they're draining his powers!" Kaede suddenly realized and raised her hand up in the air.

"IRON REAVER SOUL STEALER!" Kaede shouted as she swung her claws and broke through the web cocoon.

"What's this?!" Kaede looked at her father as he fell out of his prison and she caught him.

"He's... He's human?!" the confused girl looked down at her young, sleeping father.

Kaede looked to the night sky and then looked back to InuYasha and said, "Dummy, you should have known, full well, not to go off by yourself into the night if it was your period of weakness..."

The girl loaded her father onto her back and then heard a pained growl from a familiar demon.

"Kirara?" Kaede asked herself and then jumped to the tops of the trees and looked to see what was going on.

Kirara fell from the sky, to the ground, hitting it at full speed and then transformed back into her small cat state. Kaede was shocked and gasped. She then looked back up and saw Sango and Miroku following the same path to the ground and jumped from the tree branches at such a frantic pounce that the branches actually broke off completely and the tree bent halfway over. The girl jumped to the aid of Sango and grabbed her first, throwing her over her left shoulder, and then fell a few feet and grabbed up Miroku, throwing him over her right shoulder. She landed near where Kirara was and put her friends down on the ground, the demon cat regaining some sense of herself and standing back up on her feet. Kaede could hear the spider demons approaching quickly and she looked down at her unconscious comrades.

"Kirara... Take them... Take them and hurry away from here... Keep them and yourself safe... Please..." Kaede said, her head hanging and her fists clamping so hard that her claws drew blood from her hands.

Kirara looked to Kaede and gave a heartfelt "meow".

"Please Kirara! Hurry!" Kaede pleaded with the demon cat.

The cat then transformed into her larger form and Kaede loaded the three friends onto her back. Before Kirara took off, one of the three awoke.

"...K...Kaede? Is that...you?" a pained InuYasha looked up at the girl.

Kirara flew off, and InuYasha's blurred vision saw the image of Kaede unsheathing the Tetsusaiga and jumping towards many spider demons, who were also lunging at the girl.

"No... Kaede..." and he was unconscious once more.

------------------------------------

It was nearly sunrise and Kagome had been sleeping well until just then. She awoke with worry in her heart and carefully removed the sheets from her without waking the young Shippo. The girl walked outside into the darkness and looked around. She didn't see anything but, for some reason, she knew that something was wrong.

_"Where are you guys? You should have been back by now..."_ Kagome thought sadly.

Just as she was about to turn and walk back into the hut, she heard the growl of a familiar demon. Looking around, Kagome finally spotted the demon cat, Kirara flying back to the village. She gave a wide smile and waved to the cat.

"Hey! Kirara! There you guys are! Where have you -" Kagome began.

Before her smile had a chance to flourish into a relieved face, she saw the unconscious bodies of Sango, Miroko, and InuYasha. Kirara landed and ran to Kagome, showing her the three on her back.

"Oh no! Guys! InuYasha, wake up! Come on Kirara, we have to get them back to the hut!" Kagome asked, looking at the demon cat's own wounds.

After doing some of her healing, Kagome had managed to wake Sango and Miroku and was now tending to InuYasha's wounds.

"The demons were far more fierce than we had expected them to be. There was no way that we would have defeated them. After we were knocked out, I suppose Kirara managed to get us away from there," Miroku explained.

"But what happened to Kaede?" Kagome asked worried.

"I'm not sure. One minute we were fighting demons and being knocked away, and the next we were here. Only Kirara really knows what happened," Sango replied.

Just then a hand grabbed Kagome's arm and she gasped and turned to see it.

"InuYasha! You're awake!" Kagome said cheerfully.

The human boy sat up and gritted his teeth in pain.

"She's... still out there! We have to...go get her!" he spoke.

"Stay still, you're injured!" Kagome scolded.

InuYasha moved his feet as though he were going to stand.

"She's right, InuYasha!" Miroku began, "Kirara is injured, as are yourself along with Sango and I. How do you think that we could get there right now? I'm afraid that Kaede is on her own for right now."

-----------------------------------------

"WIND SCAR!" Kaede yelled as she swung her sword.

Even though she was more than three quarters demon, Kaede had been fighting for hours and she was growing tired. Although she knew this, she also knew that making a getaway was out of the question. If she were to leave now, the demons would ultimately pursue her and attack the village where her friends and family currently resided. She had to see this battle to the end.

"WIND SCAR!" she shouted again, destroying one hundred more demons with one stroke of the sword.

"I've got to finish this! I can't let anyone get hurt because I ran from them!" Kaede reasoned to herself as to why she couldn't just let this go.

Kaede mowed down more and more demons as she lunged forward more and more, destroying every disgusting spider that she could. As she did this, she noticed that all of the demons were coming from the same direction.

"Something's not right here!" Kaede realized.

"WIND SCAR!" she yelled one more time before sheathing the Tetsusaiga and jumping into the highest trees.

Kaede took off towards the direction that the spider demons were coming from and as she did this, the demons that she passed turned to follow her. She sped off as quickly as possible, avoiding attacks from the demons as they climbed the trees to grab at her. After traveling this way for just a few minutes, Kaede finally came upon something very interesting.

"Is that... Is that a rat demon shrine?!" Kaede asked herself.

A much larger version of a rat demon shrine stood in the middle of a small clearing. It was being lit up by the, now, rising sun. Spider demons were pouring out of it by the thousands.

Kaede smirked and unsheathed her sword saying to herself, "If I destroy that shrine, I can finish off all of these demons and be done with it all!"

Jumping from the tops of the trees, Kaede readied her sword for the attack.

"WIND SCA-" however she was cut off by several of the spiders rushing to her and spraying her with their webbing.

Kaede lost grip on the Tetsusaiga and it fell to the ground, transforming back into it's neutral state.

The girl was covered with the web substance and she thought that it was going to be then end just then when she heard a voice.

"So you thought that you could destroy us?!" the voice of a spider demon sounded off.

"What?!" Kaede looked around herself to see the largest spider demon that she had ever seen.

"You're friends couldn't get away, and neither will you!" the demon chuckled as it approached closer to the girl.

"What the hell are you talking about?! My friends are long gone from here!" Kaede was confused, she could have sworn that the scents of her friends had fled hours ago.

"You may only _believe_ that they had escaped, but not long after they fled, we captured them and killed them!" the demon explained proudly.

Kaede struggled against the tight hold that the web had on her and shouted, "I don't believe you!"

"Oh really? You don't believe that we _killed_ three unconscious humans and a demon feline?! Well perhaps when we kill you, and you rejoin them in death, then you'll finally understand how weak you and they really are!" The demon said as he watched his underlings wrap the girl in the sturdy material.

"And after we kill you! We will go to the village in which your _other_ friends are and kill them as well! We will have defeated you as easily as Naraku said we would!" The demon laughed uncontrollably.

Kaede's anger grew in intensity. She looked to the ground and saw the Tetsusaiga, untouched, and then looked to the shrine in which more and more demons were emerging from, and then thought of how they could actually kill everyone in the village, and how her friends and father may have met their early death. She began to growl in anger and her body quaked with power.

"What's this?!" the demon stopped his laughing and looked down at the girl, whose body began to pulse as it was completely wrapped up into a web ball.

"You're...not going...to kill me... NOT HERE, NOT EVER!" Kaede shouted as she ripped the hardening substance from her body as if it were nothing more than a thin paper.

"What?! How are you doing this?!" the demon shouted as it's shocked expression grew amongst the other spider demons.

Kaede had been looking down to the ground but now she looked up from the black bangs of hair that hung over her face. Her eyes had turned red, the pupils were beady and blue. She had four purple streaks across her cheeks, two on each side. Her body pulsed again and her hair changed from dark black, to silver, dog ears appeared in place of her small, pointed human ears.

"What are you waiting for?! Kill her NOW!" The giant spider demon ordered and the smaller ones lunged at the girl, burying her in piles of themselves.

The larger demon smiled once more and chuckled saying, "You never had a chance at winning!"

The demon began to laugh once again, until he felt the pulsing from under the pile of demons, "What's this now?! She couldn't possibly have lived through that!"

The smaller spider demons exploded from the pile that they had formed over the girl and they were destroyed easily. The explosion settled and the larger demon looked to see Kaede standing, just as she had before the demons had covered her.

"Damn you, wretch! I will destroy you!" The large demon announced as it rushed at the girl, who wasn't moving.

"Prepare to die!" the demon said as it approached within inches of Kaede.

The full demon woman raised a single hand, which bore claws that had extended and as the demon was about to kill her. Kaede swung the one hand with a small, swift motion, and the demon fell to the ground, sliced and shredded to death. The woman looked to the demon and then back to the rows and rows of other spiders which surrounded her.

"...Let's do this..." Kaede growled in a dangerous tone before she jumped up and started slashing away at the demons, killing them as she made it towards the large shrine, destroying it just as easily and killing off the only way that the demons could have overcome her as a three-fourths demon.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Chapter Teaser!

"Wait a minute... Kagome," InuYasha called.

Kagome turned back towards him and said, "What is it?"

InuYasha gave the girl a firm and concerned look and asked, "Do you still have those prayer beads?"

Kagome opened a little pocket in her backpack and found the small cloth, holding the separated beads.

"Yeah, here they are," Kagome replied looking at InuYasha and wondering what he was wanting.

"Keep them close at hand... You might find a use for them in a few minutes..." InuYasha said quietly.


	32. HEEL!

Hey all! Thank you for all the reviews, and sticking with my story! Here's my next update!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha

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"InuYasha! I can sense a great amount of demon power! It must but the vast amount of spiders that we ran into last night!" Miroku shouted from atop of Kirara.

InuYasha was carrying Kagome on his back, and Kirara managed to get up enough energy to carry Sango, Miroku and young Shippo on her back as well. They had all decided that after the sun had risen and InuYasha's wounds had quickly healed because of it, that they would go find Kaede as quickly as possible.

"Yeah... I sense a demonic aura too..." InuYasha said in a low tone.

_"If I didn't know any better... I'd say that it was Kaede's aura... and her scent too..."_ InuYasha thought to himself.

InuYasha suddenly stopped and Kirara turned back to see what he was doing.

"What's wrong?" Kagome asked.

"Kagome, I want you to go with Miroku and Sango. I smell blood up ahead and I'm not sure what to expect yet..." he quietly ordered her.

Kagome knew that InuYasha was worried. She could tell that he knew something and he didn't want to tell her until he knew for sure that what he sensed was true.

"Yeah... okay," Kagome replied as she was let off of InuYasha's back and walked over to Kirara.

"Wait a minute... Kagome," InuYasha called.

Kagome turned back towards him and said, "What is it?"

InuYasha gave the girl a firm and concerned look and asked, "Do you still have those prayer beads?"

Kagome opened a little pocket in her backpack and found the small cloth, holding the separated beads.

"Yeah, here they are," Kagome replied looking at InuYasha and wondering what he was wanting.

"Keep them close at hand... You might find a use for them in a few minutes..." InuYasha said quietly.

"Sure... I'll keep them right here," Kagome replied with a smile.

BOOM

Loud noises, most likely from battling, began to pierce the ears of the travelers.

"InuYasha, the demonic aura is approaching!" Miroku pointed out.

"I sense some jewel shards!" Kagome added.

"Here it comes!" InuYasha announced, unsheathing the Tetsusaiga.

An injured spider demon rushed into the area where the travelers were and then stopped upbruptly when it saw them.

"There's... more of you! Demons! Just like _her!_" the demon yelled in a scared tone.

"So _this_ is where you've run off to!" the dangerous tone of voice shot through the trees and into the clearing.

"It's... Kaede!" young Shippo pointed to the dark figure who stood at the top of a nearby tree, looking down on them.

"Kaede?" Kagome wasn't sure what to think. She sounded somewhat like her, but she looked like...

"She's transformed again!" Miroku said in surprise.

"I _thought_ that's what I could smell..." InuYasha stated, putting his hand on the hilt of his Tetsusaiga, unsure of what he was supposed to do now.

Kaede looked down from her tree to see her friends and family looking up at her with shocked and scared facial expressions. The girl smirked at them with an evil grin.

"So I see that you're all alive! How gracious of you to come to watch me destroy this last vermon!" The girl swooped down from the tree and the spider tried to flee.

"Where do you think _you're_ going?!" Kaede yelled as she flexed her elongated claws and made one swift movement and destroyed the spider quickly and easily.

Kaede landed on the ground, her back to the group. She lifted her hands, which were soaked in the blood of the demons and rubbed her fingers together as though she wanted to feel more of it.

InuYasha made a step forward and said in a quiet tone, "Kaede, listen to me... Where's the Tetsusaiga?"

Kaede suddenly remembered that the gang was behind her and turned to them with her demon grin on her face.

"Oh gee, I don't know, it's around here somewhere..." she said, flexing her claws again.

InuYasha was careful about his movements. He knew that, as a full demon, Kaede would take getting anywhere close to her as a threat and might attack them. But for the moment, he took out his sword and held it out to the girl, as if he were lending it to her.

"It's okay then, just touch my Tetsusaiga and you'll return to normal. Just come over here, and put your hand on it," InuYasha said reaching out the sword to her with small, easy steps.

The girl scoffed and took a few steps away from her father saying, "Sorry, no-can-do. I'm more powerful than ever and I'm not going back! Why would I want to be weak?!"

InuYasha just kept making his small steps towards the girl, not willing to give up trying to talk to her.

"Just take the Tetsusaiga, Kaede, please... Just take hold of it..." he insisted.

The others were practically sweating bullets. Miroku knew that if things lost control, he would have to use his wind tunnel, and he had his hand at ready. Sango wasn't sure what exactly to think of this. She knew that Kaede was more dangerous than they could ever imagine. Kagome was staying as strong as InuYasha. She understood that Kaede was feeling the effects of being stronger, but just like InuYasha, she would need the proper guidance to reverting back.

"Didn't you just hear me?! I said that I'm not touching that thing! Being transformed gives me purpose! I feel more powerful than ever! All I want to do is destroy, and I like that feeling!" Kaede said, walking back once again.

InuYasha growled and said, "Just take it! You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Don't I?! Don't I know?! I know what _power_ feels like, and I like it! And I'm _not_ going to let anyone stand in my way!" Kaede jumped towards InuYasha, dodging his attempts to thrust the sword upon her, and kicked him away.

InuYasha flew back into several strong trees and knocked them over, being buried among them.

"InuYasha!" Shippo yelled in fear, looking back to Kaede who began to laugh.

Sango and Miroku stepped in front of Kagome and Shippo and Miroku held his hand out in front of him, preparing to open the wind tunnel.

"Just pick up the sword, and I won't have to do this, Kaede!" Miroku explained.

"I don't have to listen to you, _monk_! I'll take care of you just as I have those spider vermon!" Kaede sprinted forward, flexing her claws once again, and pointing them at Miroku and Sango.

Just before Miroku opened the wind tunnel, he was pushed out of the way by Kagome as she ran from behind him and Sango.

"Kagome!" Sango shouted, wondering what she was going to do.

Kaede smiled evily once more as she reared her claws back and readied to swing them.

"Time to end this!" Kagome shouted, holding up the string of prayer beads and started praying.

Kaede's eyes widened and she stopped just in front of Kagome, knowing what she was doing. The full demon growled and began to run away from the others as fast as possible.

"Hurry Kagome! She's getting away!" Miroku tried to rush the girl's spiritual powers.

Just as hope was about to leave the group, the beads around Kagome's hands shot away from her in several directions, the girl still praying.

Kaede had left the area fast and looked back at the scene. She was about to convince herself that she had managed to leave in time to escape when she saw the beads shoot out at her and form around her neck. She stopped what she was doing and landed on the ground, pulling and tearing at the beads.

"What word should I use!?" Kagome asked.

"Make it whatever you please! Just hurry Kagome!" Miroku continued to rush the girl.

"Uh... Well... Wait! I know! HEEL!" Kagome shouted.

BOOM

Kaede fell to the ground, hitting at such force that it knocked her out of her full demon state and unconscious.

"You did it!" Shippo jumped up and down in happiness.

InuYasha reapproached the group looking around for Kaede and saw the grins on everyone else's face.

"Where's Kaede?!" he asked.

"It's okay, InuYasha, I got the prayer beads around Kaede's neck and she's down for the count!" Kagome declared happily.

The group ran to Kaede's side and looked her over. Her hair was black, indicating that she had transformed back into her demon/human blood form. As the group sighed with relief, Kaede slowly opened her eyes and looked up at them.

"...Wh..What happened?" she asked.

The group looked to her and they all gasped at the same time.

"What is it?! What's wrong?!" Kaede asked sitting up quickly.

"You're eyes... They're... brown!" Sango stated, still staring down at the girl.

Kaede then realized something and looked down at her hands. She, no longer had claws, but stubbly human nails. She reached up and felt her ears, they no longer had any sort of point to them. She knew then that her demon blood had ebbed away once more.

Kaede looked at her hands and noticed that they were covered with blood. She almost jumped at the sight but she smelled the blood and noticed that it was merely spider blood. She was relieved to know that no human was harmed.

"Kaede, I thought that you said that you only lose your demon powers once a year... Hasn't that time already passed?" Miroku asked.

"I'm... not sure what's happening... Hey! What's this for?!" Kaede noticed the prayer beads around her neck.

"You were full demon and we needed a way to bring you back," Kagome explained.

"Well I'm not full demon now! Take them off!" Kaede did as InuYasha had done when he had first realized what the beads had done to him. She tried to pull the beads off but they lit up and prevented her from doing so.

The others smiled and Miroku spoke again, "I do not think that it would be wise to do so. Now that we know that you can transform into a full demon at any time, we may need to make use of the beads again."

"Come on," InuYasha picked the girl up from under her arms and put her on her feet.

"Let's go get Tetsusaiga and then we'll go back to the village and rest," InuYasha looked the girl over and then led the group towards the direction where Kaede had come from as a full demon just moments earlier.

The group arrived at the clearing where Kaede had destroyed the torn apart shrine. Kaede walked over and picked up the Tetsusaiga and sheathed it. She then turned and looked at the shrine, which was completely destroyed.

"Did I do that?" Kaede asked.

"What was this, Kaede?" Kagome asked.

"If I remember correctly, it was something similar to a rat demon shrine. It was producing thousands of demons at a time, that's why there were so many of them," Kaede replied, looking over the site.

"What?!" InuYasha was shocked. What other demon could possilby do this besides the rat demons?

"If you're wondering, it was a creation of Naraku..." Kaede added.

"We should have guessed that he would pull something like this," Sango said looking around the wreckage.

"What do you last remember about your battle with the spider demons, Kaede?" Miroku asked.

Kaede thought back to just before she lost most of herself to her full demon state.

-Flashback-

Kaede struggled against the tight hold that the web had on her and shouted, "I don't believe you!"

"Oh really? You don't believe that we killed three unconscious humans and a demon feline?! Well perhaps when we kill you, and you rejoin them in death, then you'll finally understand how weak you and they really are!" The demon said as he watched his underlings wrap the girl in the sturdy material.

"And after we kill you! We will go to the village in which your other friends are and kill them as well! We will have defeated you as easily as Naraku said we would!" The demon laughed uncontrollably.

Kaede's anger grew in intensity. She looked to the ground and saw the Tetsusaiga, untouched, and then looked to the shrine in which more and more demons were emerging from, and then thought of how they could actually kill everyone in the village, and how her friends and father may have met their early death. She began to growl in anger and her body quaked with power.

"What's this?!" the demon stopped his laughing and looked down at the girl, whose body began to pulse as it was completely wrapped up into a web ball.

"You're...not going...to kill me... NOT HERE, NOT EVER!" Kaede shouted as she ripped the hardening substance from her body as if it were nothing more than a thin paper.

-End Flashback-

Kaede didn't want to share any of that information because it wouldn't have been helpful and she didn't want to tell them of what she had gone through fighting the spiders.

"Not much really... Just that I had dropped the Tetsusaiga and then I felt the same anger that I normally feel just before I transform," she commented.

"This must have been your work then, unless another demon with the same strength decided to stroll through the area," Miroku suggested.

They all turned around and saw that Kaede had settled on the ground from exhaustion.

"Maybe we should return to the village and get some rest," Sango suggested.

InuYasha walked over to his tired daughter and picked her up, loading her onto his back. As he did this, the group noticed that Kaede had fallen asleep.

"It must have been quite the battle for her. Fighting for hours, then her body going through such a rough transformation," Miroku commented.

"Don't forget the fact that she's probably been awake for two days straight. She would probably handle it better if she had part of her demon side working. But now that she's human it's all catching up to her," Kagome added.

InuYasha turned to them and said, "I wouldn't be surprised if she slept for at least a full day. Come on, let's go."

Sango, Miroku, Kagome and Shippo rode on Kirara's back as InuYasha carried the exhausted Kaede on his back. He was careful to run smoothly so as not to wake her up.

"So what do you guys think that this could mean?" Kagome asked solemnly.

"What do you mean?" Sango asked.

"I mean, why do you think that Kaede transformed into a full demon and then back into a human if she's only supposed to do that once a year?" Kagome asked looking down at the sleeping girl on InuYasha's back.

"Well, I wondered if perhaps she had not been completely honest with us about her transformations," Miroku pondered.

"You think she lied to us?" Kagome asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure to think if she had not told us about certain times when she could not control her transformations, or if she honestly doesn't know why this is happening to her. Even so, now we're at even more of a disadvantage because now we don't know when, or if she'll ever return to her normal self. For all we know, she could stay human from this day forward," he finished.

Kagome, Sango and Shippo looked down at the girl, now wondering the same thing.

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The group arrived back to the village and entered the old man's hut. The man had just gotten up and was on his way out to perform his daily chores.

"I see that you have found the young woman! Is she all right? She looks different than before!" The man asked.

"She's fine. She's just a little tired. I'm sorry, do you mind us staying here for just a little while longer?" Kagome asked.

"Not at all! I have more than enough room for all of you," the old man replied happily.

"We shouldn't stay here for more than a few hours," Miroku warned.

InuYasha had just sat Kaede against the wall as he turned and said, "Why's that?"

Sango stepped forward, holding the exhausted form of Kirara in her arms and said, "He's right. We should only stay here for a few hours to allow Kaede to be still while she sleeps, but we must move on quickly, otherwise word could get aroud that we're here."

Kagome sighed and said, "I suppose you guys are right. We should probably leave right after lunch."

"Yes. We don't have to leave in a hurry, just leave sometime soon. That way Kaede and Kirara can rest," Miroku added.

"Well if you must leave, then I am at least glad to have met you all!" The old man said somewhat sadly as he left the hut.

InuYasha sat down across the room from Kaede and let out a deep sigh as well.

"We should all rest for a few hours then. We've got plenty of time before lunch and we need to be on guard for the rest of the trip," he said.

The others agreed and bundled up next to the fire, Kagome cuddling next to InuYasha and Shippo cuddling Kagome. For now, all they could do was rest.

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Chapter Teaser!

"What's wrong now?" Sota asked walking out of the cabin.

"I'm not sure that you'll get this done in time..." Shippo repeated.

"You mean, this?" Sota dangled the finished remote in front of Shippos' face.

Shippo got up quickly, again knocking Myoga from where he was sitting and grabbed the remote, looking over it.

"It's really done?!" Shippo asked in a child-like tone.

"Yep! All finished! It's all ready for you to use it!" Sota replied happily and tired.

Shippo smiled and then looked up at Sota and said, "Come on, we've got to get you guys somewhere safe."


End file.
